The House has eased up on one of the restrictive ethics changes adopted at the start of the 110th Congress.

By voice vote, the chamber ended a ban on traveling by non-commercial aircraft.

That rule had been imposed to take away an avenue of lobbyist largess, but it became a major irritant to lawmakers who fly their own private planes.

The new rule (H Res 363) was adopted with no debate during 39 seconds of procedural action just before midnight yesterday.

It outlines a series of exceptions to make more private plane travel permissible. Those exceptions include planes owned or leased by a member of Congress or someone in the member’s family; or someone who has allowed the use of the plane “on the basis of personal friendship.”