NBAA Welcomes Subcommittee Approval of Bill to Reintroduce Supersonic Flight Over the US

Washington, DC, Dec. 18, 2025 – The National Business Aviation Association (NBAA) welcomed the vote by the House Transportation and infrastructure Committee’s Subcommittee on Aviation to advance legislation to reintroduce supersonic flight over the United States.

H.R. 3410, the “Supersonic Aviation Modernization Act,” would require the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to issue regulations to legalize civil supersonic flight in the U.S., as long as the aircraft is operated to ensure that no sonic boom reaches the ground.

NBAA President and CEO Ed Bolen hailed the measure as commonsense legislation guided by recent advances that have shown great promise toward enabling transitions to Mach 1 that are nearly silent to those on the ground.

“By balancing innovative technologies with a continued focus on safety, this legislation is a smart solution to help advance what looks to be a revolutionary technology enabling rapid point-to-point connectivity,” Bolen said. “This measure will also enable the U.S. to maintain its competitive edge and remain the global leader in aviation.”

House Aviation Subcommittee Chairman Rep. Troy Nehls (R-22-TX) introduced the bill in May, with Rep. Sharice Davids (D-03-KS) co-sponsoring. U.S. Sen. Ted Budd (R-NC), a member of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, Transportation and Infrastructure, introduced companion legislation.

Review the full copy of H.R. 3410, the Supersonic Aviation Modernization Act.

With limited exceptions for military operations, supersonic flight over the U.S. has been prohibited since 1973 by the FAA over concerns about disruptiveness from supersonic reverberation.

However, the industry has made strides to mitigate that issue for civil operators. NASA recently launched flight testing of the experimental Lockheed Martin X-59 QueSST, designed to reduce the perceived supersonic boom at ground level to a “thump” similar to the sound of a car door closing.

Earlier this year, Boom Supersonic announced that both supersonic flights of its XB-1 demonstrator aircraft included multiple “boomless cruise” runs at supersonic speeds. While not specifically designed to reduce sonic booms, the aircraft utilized specialized, high altitude and high-speed flight profiles and real-time weather data to refract the sonic boom upward, away from the ground.

The NBAA Emerging Technologies Committee supports the advancement of supersonic flight and other aviation advancements, including unmanned aircraft systems, advanced air mobility, unmanned traffic management, commercial space and other future technologies and associated infrastructure representing significant opportunities for business aviation stakeholders.