The FAA is expanding its $875M SMART AI system from the Washington DC area to all 22 national en-route centers to manage air traffic congestion. Since its September debut, SMART has helped reroute 180 flights, saving an average of 10 minutes and nearly 80 gallons of fuel per flight. The system's AI-driven scheduling and routing recommendations are validated by a human specialist team before being relayed to controllers.
Background
The FAA's SMART (System Wide Management Solutions) project represents one of the earliest large-scale deployments of AI-assisted decision-making in critical aviation infrastructure, building on decades of efforts to modernize the aging National Airspace System.
- Source
- Ars Technica
- Published
- Nov 13, 2026 at 06:28 AM
- Score
- 6.0 / 10