The Federal Aviation Administration is expanding an AI system that recommends ways to manage air traffic. Called SMART, the tool is intended to help limit delays and fuel use, with human specialists reviewing its recommendations before they reach local air traffic control facilities.
What SMART recommends
The FAA describes SMART as a cloud-based system that brings together information about weather patterns, flight paths, traffic flow, and controller staffing metrics. It uses those inputs to predict air traffic patterns and suggest scheduling and routing decisions.
Its recommendations can include optimal flight routes and the order in which aircraft should arrive. The system advises; it does not direct aircraft. The FAA says a team of its specialists based in DC validates recommendations before sending them to facilities, and local controllers can choose whether to accept them.
The agency has also said SMART cannot replace air traffic controllers or take control of an aircraft. That distinction matters: the rollout adds a source of advice to the process, while responsibility for decisions remains with people.
From a regional rollout to 22 centers
SMART was first implemented in airspace over Washington, DC, on September 21. The FAA says it has helped reroute 180 flights there, saving an average of 10 minutes and almost 80 gallons of fuel per flight.
After that initial rollout, the agency expanded coverage to air route traffic control centers in Atlanta, Jacksonville, and Miami. Its November 10 announcement said SMART would now be used in the airspace of all 22 centers across the country. The FAA says the wider deployment is intended to reduce delays and fuel consumption and improve the travel experience.
The early figures describe the FAA’s account of results in the initial operating area. They do not, on their own, show what results will look like across the national system. The agency’s stated aim is to extend those benefits, but the announcement does not provide nationwide performance figures.
Support from airlines, questions from controllers
Airline executives have expressed support for the rollout. The earlier FAA announcement included statements from Delta Air Lines CEO Ed Bastian and American Airlines CEO Robert Isom.
The National Air Traffic Controllers Association, which represents more than 15,000 members, told Flying magazine that it was not consulted or involved in SMART’s “design, testing, or implementation.” The union said it therefore could not speak to the system’s effect on the air traffic control workforce.
That gap leaves an important part of the rollout’s impact unresolved. The FAA explains how specialists and local controllers are meant to interact with the tool, while the union’s statement points to a lack of its involvement in developing and assessing the system. The source does not provide further detail about how SMART may affect controllers’ work.
What the public evidence shows so far
The FAA shared an example with The Dallas Morning News in which SMART recommended a shorter, faster route for a cargo flight arriving at Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport. The newspaper reported that the agency did not identify the flight and had not provided information about how SMART may have assisted passenger flight traffic.
So far, the public examples and figures offer a limited view of the system: the agency has described early reroutes and a cargo flight recommendation, alongside plans for nationwide coverage. Whether the reported savings carry over to other airspace and types of flights remains an open question in the information provided.
As SMART expands, its role is clear in the FAA’s description: it analyzes air traffic information and offers recommendations, while human specialists and local controllers remain part of the decision process. The agency’s early results explain why it is extending the tool; the controllers’ union’s concerns show why workforce effects are also part of the story.