US/Europe: Clash over global supersonic jet noise standards

A US push for new global standards to kickstart its fledgling supersonic jet industry is facing resistance by European nations that want tough rules on noise, according to documents and people familiar with the situation. Fifteen years after Concorde’s last flight, US regulators are weighing rule changes to allow testing of early-stage supersonic jets, amid plans for American-made business and small passenger jets due in service by the mid-2020s. But the new industry could face delays at the UN aviation agency where the US and European countries are squaring off over new noise rules needed for the jets to fly, five sources said. The previously unreported dispute follows a 1990s clash on noise standards, when the EU wanted to ban noisy older US-made jets like the Boeing 727 from its airports and Washington threatened to retaliate by banning the Anglo-French Concorde.<br/>