FAA expands AI air traffic tool days before nationwide ground stop
The Federal Aviation Administration expanded its Strategic Management of Airspace, Routes and Trajectories (SMART) tool, which is supported by artificial intelligence, to all 22 of its air route traffic control centers. The expansion came three days before the agency ordered a nationwide ground stop on departing flights.
The FAA describes SMART as a shift from reactive to predictive air traffic management. The tool merges about 200 data streams, including flight paths, schedules, weather, airport capacity and controller staffing, onto a single platform to anticipate demand, weather and airspace constraints hours, days or weeks ahead. It recommends early routing or schedule changes to help flights avoid severe weather or congestion, with the aim of reducing delays and saving fuel.
Since a partial launch on Sept. 21, the FAA said it has rerouted 180 flights, saving an average of about 10 minutes and almost 80 gallons of fuel per flight. FAA specialists review every recommendation, local facility leaders can accept or decline them, and controllers remain responsible for keeping aircraft separated. SMART was first used in the airspace around Reagan National, Dulles and Baltimore/Washington airports, and Air Space Intelligence is building it under a 12-year, $875 million contract awarded in June that also covers a related data platform.
Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy called Friday's ground stop a "communications issue" that affected all Air Route Traffic Control Centers, and said FAA technicians were investigating. An FAA advisory said departing traffic at all U.S. airports was ordered to remain grounded "due to extraordinary circumstances and for reasons of safety." Inbound international flights are being handled on a case-by-case basis. Neither the FAA nor Duffy has linked SMART to the ground stop, and what prompted it is unclear.
The National Air Traffic Controllers Association told Flying Magazine it was not involved in the "design, testing, or implementation of SMART and therefore cannot speak to its effect on the air traffic control workforce." Democrats in the House have sent a letter to the Government Accountability Office asking that it review the FAA's SMART implementation strategy, performance metrics, and safety risk management.
