Over two dozen environmental advocates on Tuesday pushed back against a move by the Trump administration to facilitate the return of supersonic planes.
“The world is burning, and supersonic planes would pour jet fuel on the fire,” said Clare Lakewood, a senior attorney at the Center for Biological Diversity, in a press statement. “It would be madness to sabotage our shot at preserving a livable climate so the ultra-rich can take faster flights.”
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) issued a notice of a proposed rule in June that stated that the agency “is proposing to modernize the procedure for requesting these special flight authorizations.”
In remarks just ahead of that announcement, FAA administrator Daniel Elwell said the rule “will provide a streamlined, clear line of sight on how to gain approval to conduct flight testing. This is a necessary, key step for further research and development in an emerging segment—and ultimately bring their aircraft to market.”
The proposal referenced “renewed interest in supersonic aircraft development,” and an article published Wednesday in Condé Nast Traveler flushes out some of that interest.
Titled “The Competition to Bring Back Suerpsonic Flight Is Heating up,” the article notes how Lockheed Martin and NASA are jointly developing supersonic aircraft to limit the deafening sonic boom such aircraft emit. Denver-based Boom Supersonic is also moving forward with the development of aircraft that would achieve supersonic speeds on transatlantic flights, and it’s already got pre-orders from Japan Airlines.
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