FAA tees up $875M AI tool to help manage air traffic congestion

The FAA is deploying an AI system called SMART to help air traffic controllers manage congestion by predicting air traffic flows and identifying potential conflicts based on factors like airline schedules, weather, and airport capacity. The system will initially launch in the Washington, DC area before expanding nationwide, with the goal of reducing fuel burn, improving on-time performance, and speeding recovery from disruptions. This rollout comes as the FAA faces a decades-long shortage of air traffic controllers that has worsened through hiring freezes, government shutdowns, and workforce reductions, with an incident in January involving a fatal collision where understaffing was cited as a causal factor.