FAA to deploy $875 million AI system for air traffic control

The Federal Aviation Administration is preparing to launch a software program called SMART, an artificial intelligence system meant to help air traffic controllers manage flights, according to a Wall Street Journal report. The program will cost the government $875 million over 12 years.

SMART stands for Strategic Management of Airspace, Routes, and Trajectories. A one-page readout on the program describes it as a cloud-based platform that adds to the FAA’s existing air traffic management systems rather than replacing them. The software draws on airline schedules, weather data, airport capacity, airspace conditions and other operational constraints to predict how traffic will flow and flag potential conflicts before they happen, according to the readout cited by the Journal.

The system comes from Air Space Intelligence, a company that builds AI tools for aviation. The FAA plans to roll SMART out first in the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area before expanding it to other parts of the country, the Journal reports. No date for the initial launch appears in the material reviewed.

A shortage the agency wants technology to help fix

The FAA has struggled for years to keep pace with demand for air traffic controllers, and the shortage has strained operations at airports nationwide. The causes are varied. Earlier this year the agency announced what it called a “bold, new” hiring plan that it said would “erase the longstanding staffing shortage.” The FAA is also running a separate, broader effort to modernize air traffic systems that in some cases still rely on decades-old technology.

SMART fits into that modernization push, but the source material does not say how the software’s forecasts will be presented to controllers, whether it will carry any decision-making authority, or what training controllers will need before using it. The Journal report does not detail how the $875 million is split between development, deployment and maintenance over the 12-year period, nor does it name the FAA officials overseeing the contract.

Whether SMART eases the controller shortage will depend on how the software performs once it reaches working control rooms, not on projections in a planning document. The Washington, D.C. rollout will be the first real test. How the FAA times and reports on that launch, alongside progress on its separate hiring plan, will show whether the agency’s combined approach of hiring more controllers and adding AI tools is closing the gap.