Faster-than-sound passenger flights could soon return to US skies after key House vote

U.S. air travelers could soon embark on journeys faster than the speed of sound if a bill in the House of Representatives is taken up in the Senate.

The House voted to legalize supersonic flight in a decisive bipartisan vote on Tuesday, with the bill passing unanimously by voice vote in the early evening.

Supersonic passenger flights over land were banned by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) in 1973 over noise concerns, and no such planes were ever manufactured in the U.S. by American-owned airlines.

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The bill, led by Rep. Troy Nehls, R-Texas, would give the FAA a year to update its rules to allow for passenger flights over land that are faster than Mach 1.

But the caveat for those flights is that they must not be heard or felt by people on the ground, thereby eliminating noise pollution concerns.

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Nehls, who chairs the House Transportation Committee's subcommittee on aviation, told Fox News Digital that his bill would "ensure that the United States doesn’t fall behind our foreign adversaries in aviation innovation."

"For decades, agency regulations have held back American innovation and supersonic flight. My bill puts a stop to that and safely unleashes the next era of aerospace innovation. The Senate must act swiftly to pass this legislation to codify President Trump’s executive order and ensure the U.S. is the world’s leader in supersonic aviation," Nehls said.

Boom Supersonic, a company backing the bill, told Fox News Digital, "We have demonstrated that civil supersonic flight can be safe, efficient, and quiet. Today’s bipartisan vote is an important step toward codifying the executive order signed by the President last year that overturns a 50 year old outdated regulation, clearing the runway for all of us to enjoy faster flights."

Nehls' bill follows an executive order unveiled in June of last year by President Donald Trump, which the White House said would reverse five decades of "outdated and overly restrictive regulations."

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The now-retired Concorde airliner, a British and French company, famously operated trans-Atlantic supersonic flights for 27 years through the late 20th century.

But Concorde flew its last commercial flight in 2003 after high cost overruns, maintenance costs, and a significant decrease in passenger flights following a fatal Air France flight involving a Concorde jet in July 2000, the airliner's only deadly accident in its operating history.