The Federal Aviation Administration is preparing to put artificial intelligence to work inside the nation’s air traffic control system. Starting Monday, the FAA plans to begin using a system called SMART in Washington, DC, marking the first step in a much larger effort to modernize how flights move through US airspace.
The project carries a price tag of nearly a billion dollars. In June, the FAA awarded Air Space Intelligence a $875 million government contract lasting 12 years to develop and operate SMART. The system will analyze airline schedules, weather patterns, and airport runway capacity to help predict traffic flows and spot possible conflicts before they disrupt flights.
SMART will not take over day-to-day air traffic control operations at the start. The FAA held meetings to address concerns from the aviation industry and said the system would generate alternative routing options instead of being directly integrated into the decisions controllers make during daily operations.
What SMART Is Meant to Do
The FAA plans to keep the first rollout limited, then expand SMART after a 90-day testing period. The long-term goal is much bigger: use the system to manage the entire US airspace, which covers 29 million square miles.
The FAA describes SMART as a group of AI models that can predict air traffic flows and identify potential conflicts. That could give controllers and airlines more time to adjust flight plans, especially when packed schedules, changing weather, and limited runway space create problems.
Sean Duffy, the US transportation secretary, first teased SMART in April. He described software that could see a problem 45 days in advance and make small schedule changes before delays spread.
“This software will say, ‘well, listen, we can see this 45 days out. Let’s move some of those flights a little bit later, or five, seven, 10 minutes earlier, and we can resolve the issue. And so then you are not delayed.’”
The FAA is also replacing radar systems, radios, telecommunication lines, and voice switches as part of its broader modernization effort. SMART is one piece of that work, adding a planning tool to upgrades of the equipment that supports air traffic control.
Why the FAA Wants More Help
The push comes as the FAA faces a longstanding shortage of air traffic controllers. The workforce has declined by 6 percent over the past decade, leaving staffing as a central concern for an agency responsible for moving flights across the country.
Staffing and training faced additional disruption in 2025. A government shutdown lasted 43 days, from October 1 to November 12, 2025. During the shutdown, 15 to 20 air traffic controllers retired each day, and up to 500 air traffic controller trainees were lost. The FAA also experienced layoffs, though 132 employees were later ordered to be reinstated.
That pressure has made automation a politically and operationally important part of the FAA’s plans. Bryan Bedford, the FAA Administrator, said the current system needs a better way to coordinate flights before problems reach controllers and airports.
“The way we manage traffic today is chaotic, and we can do better. We need to manage that at the FAA, rather than rely on commercial airlines to simply schedule however they want.”
A separate Flyways AI platform manages 40 percent of US air traffic, while SMART is being introduced as an FAA-backed system with a planned path toward the entire national airspace. The Washington, DC, trial will show how the system performs before the agency decides how far to extend it.
Testing Before a Wider Rollout
The FAA’s approach leaves room for testing without handing control of live operations to AI on the first day. SMART will initially suggest alternative routes and identify possible conflicts, giving the agency a way to measure its predictions during the 90-day testing period.
Airlines for America called the effort an early step in what it described as a major FAA initiative. “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.”
The need for better staffing and coordination gained fresh attention after a collision on January 29, 2025, involving a US Army Black Hawk helicopter and an American Airlines jet. The crash killed 67 people, and airport tower understaffing was cited as a causal factor.
That tragedy sits in the background as SMART moves into its first test. The system is not being placed directly in charge of daily traffic decisions, but the FAA wants it to help identify trouble earlier, offer alternate routes, and reduce the pressure on a workforce that has faced years of shortages and disruption.
For now, the plan is straightforward: begin in Washington, DC, test SMART for 90 days, and then consider a wider rollout. The eventual ambition is to give the FAA an AI system capable of helping manage all 29 million square miles of US national airspace.
Based on
- The FAA Is Spending Nearly a Billion Dollars to Make AI the “Brain” of Air Traffic Control Towers, Starting This Monday — futurism.com
- FAA tees up $875M AI tool to help manage air traffic congestion – Ars Technica — arstechnica.com
- AI-assisted air traffic control is coming to some of the nation’s busiest skies | The Independent — independent.co.uk
- The FAA’s plan to fix air traffic? $875 million worth of AI | TechCrunch — techcrunch.com
