SMART – short for Strategic Management of Airspace, Routes and Trajectories – automatically crunches airline schedules, weather data and runway capacity to flag potential conflicts before they materialise, according to an official FAA release cited by the Wall Street Journal.
The $875 million, 12‑year contract was awarded to Air Space Intelligence earlier this year. The agency says the software will eventually act as “the brains of the nation’s air‑traffic control system” when fully deployed across U.S. airspace.
The initial deployment targets the nation’s capital corridor, one of the country’s busiest airspace segments, and is slated to begin as early as Monday. FAA Administrator Bryan Bedford said the agency will evaluate the system after a 90‑day testing period before deciding on broader expansion.
The move is part of a broader Trump‑administration push to modernise air‑traffic infrastructure after a series of high‑profile aviation incidents early in the president’s term. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy first hinted at the FAA’s interest in an AI tool in April, then estimating a $12 billion investment to help controllers plan flights weeks in advance.
Airline executives initially expressed confusion and concern. Three airline officials told Politico that the industry was “baffled” about how the tool would function and feared it could recommend widespread flight cancellations or rescheduling. One anonymous source urged the FAA to “start, crawl, walk, run,” prompting the agency to scale back the rollout’s scope.
In response, the FAA held a series of meetings with carriers, assuring that SMART would not be directly embedded in day‑to‑day traffic management but would instead generate alternative routing options when congestion builds. The concessions appear to have eased industry resistance; Airlines for America, a major airline trade group, called the initiative “one of the most exciting and bold initiatives taken on by the FAA in decades.”