FAA Starts Using AI-Supported SMART Traffic Platform Around Washington

The FAA has started using a new AI-supported air traffic management platform, called SMART, in the Washington, D.C., area. Limited operation began on Monday 21 September 2026 as the first phase of a planned nationwide rollout, which the agency says will expand gradually to other parts of the country.

SMART stands for Strategic Management of Airspace, Routes and Trajectories. It is built as an enhancement within the FAA’s FDMS data environment and is designed to help the agency anticipate congestion rather than react to it.

How it works

The platform brings roughly 200 data streams into one environment. These include weather, flight paths, traffic flow and controller staffing. An AI-supported engine combines them to show where aircraft are heading, how much traffic the system can handle and where weather or demand could create trouble.

With that picture, FAA staff can consider changes to scheduling and routing hours or even days in advance. The FAA describes SMART as using airline schedules, weather, airport capacity, airspace conditions and operational constraints to forecast traffic flows and flag potential conflicts, updating its recommendations as conditions change.

Importantly, SMART is an assistive tool. It produces recommendations that FAA personnel must review, and it does not directly control aircraft. Controllers and traffic managers remain responsible for decisions.

The pitch

Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said: “SMART will slash those frustrating delays, reduce stress on air traffic controllers, and lower travel prices.” Aviation International News reported on 25 September that the tool is meant to predict where pinch points in the National Airspace System may arise.

The rollout comes against a background of congestion, staffing pressure and ageing equipment. On the same day SMART went live in Washington, the FAA grounded flights at five Northeast airports after a cut fibre line disabled communications at Philadelphia TRACON. Two days later Duffy told the Aero Club of Washington that the system needs another $30 billion for air traffic control and airports.

What to watch

Washington is the first location, and the FAA says other regions will follow gradually. The FAA’s description is that human oversight is built in and that the aim is to move planning earlier in the process, before congestion forms.

Evidence of the tool’s effect on delays will have to come from operating data in the coming months. The test will be whether earlier, better-informed routing and scheduling decisions measurably reduce delays and ease pressure on controllers, as the Department of Transportation says they will.

Industry attention is likely to focus on integration with existing traffic flow management tools. SMART is described as an enhancement within the FAA’s existing data environment rather than a replacement for it, which should limit the amount of retraining that controllers and traffic managers need before they can use its output.