FAA Moves to Lift 1973 Ban on Supersonic Flights Over Land

The Federal Aviation Administration has proposed a rule that would clear the way for civil supersonic flights over the continental United States, the first concrete move toward lifting a ban that has stood since 1973. Transportation Secretary Sean P.

Duffy announced the proposal on June 30, 2026. It matters to travelers because it starts the clock on much faster flights, yet it changes nothing about any trip you can book today.

No supersonic airliner is certified, and the measure is a proposal rather than a final regulation.

What changed

For more than five decades, US rules barred civil aircraft from flying faster than sound over land, regardless of whether anyone below could hear a boom. The FAA now proposes to replace that blanket speed limit with a standard based on noise.

Under the approach the agency describes, an aircraft that stays below a set noise level at the ground would be allowed to fly supersonic over land, even while moving faster than Mach 1. The first proposed rule covers certification noise limits.

The FAA says a second proposal, covering takeoff and landing noise, will follow later in 2026. Secretary Duffy framed the change as a return of supersonic flight over land and what he called a Golden Age of Travel.

FAA Administrator Bryan Bedford said advances in engineering, materials, and noise reduction now make it possible to revisit the ban while limiting noise for people who live along flight paths and near airports.

Why it matters

Supersonic travel promises to cut the longest flights roughly in half. A jet cruising above Mach 1 covers ground at more than 770 miles per hour, against the 550 to 600 typical of airliners today.

The catch has always been the sonic boom, the sharp crack that trails an aircraft as it passes the speed of sound. That noise, not speed itself, is what the 1973 ban addressed and what the new standard tries to manage.

If the rule is finalized and aircraft can meet it, the door opens to transcontinental routes far quicker than anything flying now. For travelers, though, the near term reality is narrow.

The proposal sets the terms manufacturers must design to. It does not certify any aircraft, name any route, or put a ticket on sale.

Planning impact

Nothing about this proposal affects a flight you can book for this summer, this year, or the next several years. No US airline operates supersonic aircraft, and none can until a jet is both built and certified to a final rule that does not yet exist.

Boom Supersonic, the company furthest along, is still developing its Overture airliner and targets passenger service around the end of the decade. Anyone planning travel now should treat supersonic service as a future prospect, not an option to hold out for.

The practical value of the announcement is as a signal. It tells manufacturers and airlines that the regulatory path over US land is opening, which shapes investment and order decisions long before it touches fares.

What to verify

Several things separate this announcement from an actual supersonic flight. The measure is a proposed rule, which means a public comment period comes before any final version.

The FAA has set a target of the middle of 2027 to finalize this rule and the companion takeoff and landing rule, and government timelines can slip. The standard also governs noise and certification only.

It says nothing about flights beyond US borders, which would still require agreements with foreign regulators, a separate track the underlying executive order calls for. Travelers following the story should watch three markers: the second noise proposal expected later in 2026, a final rule in 2027, and the first aircraft actually certified to it.

Context: a ban from 1973, and the jets meant to end it

The prohibition dates to 1973, when the FAA barred civil aircraft from exceeding the speed of sound over US land. That rule is the reason the Concorde, the airliner developed jointly by Britain and France, flew supersonic only over the ocean and slowed over land during its service from 1976 to 2003.

Concorde produced a loud boom and was never exempt. The aircraft now in view are different.

NASA built an experimental jet called the X-59 to test whether careful shaping can soften a boom into a quieter thump, and the program has flown the aircraft in its test campaign. Boom Supersonic flew a small demonstrator, the XB-1, past the speed of sound in early 2025 and says it did so without an audible boom reaching the ground.

United Airlines and American Airlines have placed orders for Boom’s larger Overture. The FAA action grew out of a June 2025 executive order titled Leading the World in Supersonic Flight, which directed the agency to replace the overland ban with a noise standard and to pursue international safety agreements.

Decision matrix

Traveler situation	Best next step
Announced by US	Transportation Secretary Sean P. Duffy, alongside FAA Administrator Bryan Bedford, on June 30, 2026.
The action is a	notice of proposed rulemaking that would set a noise certification standard for civil supersonic aircraft.
It targets a 1973	prohibition on civil supersonic flight over US land, the rule that kept Concorde subsonic over the American interior.
The core idea is	a technique called Mach cutoff, where aircraft design, altitude, speed, and air conditions bend the sonic boom back upward so far less of it
Mach 1 is	roughly 770 miles per hour or more; airliners today cruise near 550 to 600.
A second FAA proposal	on takeoff and landing noise is expected later in 2026, with both rules targeted to be final by the middle of 2027.

For broader planning context, see our airline and airport guides and confirm the operator details on the official site before you change bookings.