The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) proposed a new rule on June 6, 2025, to overturn the ban on commercial supersonic flights over the United States. The proposed rule would replace the prohibition with an interim noise-based certification standard requiring sonic boom overpressure at the surface to be below 0.11 pounds per square foot.

The FAA originally banned overland supersonic flights by civil aircraft in 1973. That ban followed U.S. military tests in the 1960s involving supersonic flights over Oklahoma City, Chicago, and St. Louis. The proposed standard is based on Boom Supersonic demonstrating quiet Mach cutoff flights with its XB-1 aircraft.

Dan Rutherford, senior director at the nonprofit International Council on Clean Transportation, stated that the overpressure metric was discarded by United Nations experts in 2014 because it does not measure loudness or annoyance. "I'm honestly surprised that the FAA would propose a rule this weak," Rutherford said.

The Concorde supersonic airliner, which flew commercial transatlantic flights between 1976 and 2003, created a sonic boom overpressure equivalent to 1.94 pounds per square foot when flying at Mach 2 at an altitude of 52,000 feet. A NASA fact sheet indicates that some public reaction could be expected between 1.5 and 2 pounds of overpressure, while damage to buildings and other structures is ruled out at one pound. The same fact sheet noted that humans have experienced sonic boom overpressure between 20 and 144 pounds without injury when supersonic aircraft flew at altitudes below 100 feet.

NASA has been testing the Lockheed Martin X-59 Quesst experimental aircraft, designed to reduce a typical sonic boom to a sonic thump. The agency uses perceived levels of decibels (PldB) to evaluate sound levels, aiming for sonic thumps around 75 PldB. NASA plans supersonic flight tests of the X-59 over U.S. cities and towns to gather community feedback. The FAA plans to finalize the proposed noise regulations for overland supersonic flights by mid-2027. The agency also plans to propose another rule later in 2026 to set takeoff and landing noise standards for supersonic aircraft.

Boom Supersonic is developing a supersonic airliner named Overture, with aims to deliver the first aircraft to customers by 2029. The company has signed commercial agreements with American Airlines, Japan Airlines, and United Airlines for options to purchase the aircraft. Scott Kirby, CEO of United Airlines, stated he gives Boom a "50/50" chance of getting its supersonic airliner flying. Blake Scholl suggested that revenue from natural gas turbines would help pay for the development costs of the Overture.