FAA Rolls Out $875 Million AI Airspace System, Starting at Three Washington-Area Airports

The system is called Strategic Management of Airspace, Routes and Trajectories, or SMART. According to the FAA, it weighs all planned airline flights along with weather, wind and other variables, then adjusts flight schedules to reduce congestion and conflicts in the air before they occur.

"By fundamentally reshaping how we manage our airspace and preventing problems before they happen, SMART will slash those frustrating delays, reduce stress on air traffic controllers, and lower travel prices," Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said in a statement.

FAA and Transportation Department leaders said the technology is not meant to replace human air traffic controllers. They described it as a tool to make controllers' jobs easier. "The way we manage traffic today is chaotic and we can do better," FAA administrator Bryan Bedford said during a Senate hearing earlier this year. "We need to manage that at the FAA, rather than rely on commercial airlines to simply schedule however they want."

The SMART program is part of a broader $12.5 billion effort to modernize the nation's air traffic control system. The FAA selected Air Space Intelligence, a relatively small company, to build it. The firm has previously supplied AI-enhanced software for dispatchers at Alaska Airlines and other carriers, but the FAA project is a considerably larger and more visible test.

Skeptics question whether SMART will deliver the changes FAA leaders have promised. "It won't replace humans. It'll be another tool in the toolbox," said Dave Riley, a former air traffic controller who retired in 2020 after more than 20 years at the FAA. "But of course, when you call it AI, it gets a lot of attention."

Riley said he does not share concerns that the AI tool could act beyond human control, because air traffic controllers will still be responsible for keeping planes safely separated. "The fears of AI killing us all in the next 10 years, I don't think this platform is going to be about that," he said.

He does doubt the tool will do much to address larger problems in the air traffic control system, particularly the staffing shortage. The FAA remains thousands of certified air traffic controllers short of full staffing, which forces many controllers to work mandatory overtime and grueling schedules.

The National Air Traffic Controllers Association, the union representing controllers, said it was not involved with the new system. "NATCA has not been involved in the design, testing, or implementation of SMART and therefore cannot speak to its effect on the air traffic control workforce at this time," the union said in a statement.

Airlines for America, the trade association representing major airlines in Washington, praised the FAA's push to modernize flight management tools. "Its potential to strengthen safety, increase capacity and improve efficiency will have a direct positive effect on American travelers," the group said in a statement. "We're just in the initial stages, but it's one of the most exciting and bold initiatives taken on by the FAA in decades."