How the government plans to use AI to manage air traffic

The FAA is launching a software program known as SMART, which stands for Strategic Management of Airspace, Routes, and Trajectories. The agency is investing $875 million over the next twelve years into this platform, which was developed by a company called Air Space Intelligence. The primary goal is to help human air traffic controllers keep up with their demanding workflows. The system will start by rolling out in the Washington, D.C. area before potentially expanding to other regions. It is designed to act as a digital assistant, analyzing vast amounts of information to suggest safer and more efficient flight routes.

At its core, this software functions like an advanced prediction engine. To manage air traffic safely, controllers currently have to track hundreds of variables, such as shifting weather, individual airline schedules, and the physical capacity of airports. SMART uses artificial intelligence—which is a set of algorithms or computer instructions capable of learning patterns from large datasets—to continuously process this information. Rather than just showing the current position of planes, the software identifies potential bottlenecks or flight path conflicts hours before they would normally occur. It does this by observing historical data and real-time conditions to calculate the most likely outcomes for traffic flow, effectively giving controllers a head start on solving problems before they develop into major delays or safety risks.

This investment is a direct response to a persistent shortage of air traffic controllers, a problem that has plagued the aviation industry for years. By automating the more tedious aspects of tracking flight trajectories and predicting congestion, the FAA hopes to reduce the cognitive burden on human controllers. The project signals a shift in how critical government infrastructure is managed: moving away from purely manual oversight toward human-and-AI collaboration. The success of this system will likely determine whether we see similar automated tools adopted in other complex public sectors where staffing levels cannot keep pace with increasing demand. It is a reminder that in high-stakes fields, AI is not necessarily replacing the human in the loop, but rather attempting to give them better information to do their jobs more safely.