President Donald Trump has signed an executive order directing the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to lift its 52-year prohibition on supersonic flights over the continental United States. This substantial policy reversal comes just weeks after bipartisan congressional legislation sought to achieve a similar outcome.
The new order tasks the FAA with rescinding the longstanding ban on overland supersonic travel, instructing it instead to formulate and implement noise-based certification standards. Under the new guidelines, aircraft will be allowed to exceed the speed of sound over land provided they produce no audible sonic booms at ground level.
Michael Kratsios, director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, stressed the impact of the initiative, declaring, “Americans should be able to fly from New York to Los Angeles in under four hours.”
The decision is expected to significantly boost ongoing industry initiatives and commercial development of supersonic aviation, including those by leading aerospace firms. Early in January, Boom Supersonic’s XB-1 demonstrator jet made history as the first private civilian aircraft to surpass the speed of sound over the U.S. mainland.
Boom Supersonic’s CEO, Blake Scholl, responded enthusiastically to the presidential directive, remarking, “Booooom!” and adding, “The sound barrier was never physical—it was regulatory. With supersonic travel now legalized, passenger flights at supersonic speeds are inevitable.”
Trump also signed two other aviation-focused executive orders. One aims to expedite the commercial deployment of drones and electric vertical takeoff vehicles (eVTOL), while the second establishes a federal task force geared toward revising existing drone flight restrictions.
