FAA rolls out AI airspace tool without controllers' union input

The Transportation Department said Monday that it and the FAA have started rolling out SMART, an AI-based program designed to spot and ease potential conflicts in the National Airspace System before they happen.

Officials describe SMART, short for Strategic Management of Airspace, Routes and Trajectories, as central to a multibillion-dollar push to modernize the country's air traffic control system. According to the department, the system will draw on hundreds of data streams and use them to recommend actions to controllers, who may accept or decline them. The announcement presents SMART as a way to reduce disruptions, make operations more predictable and optimize routing, which the department says could bring ticket prices down.

The National Air Traffic Controllers Union said it was not involved. NATCA told FLYING it had no part in developing or initially deploying the system, and said it therefore cannot speak to how SMART will affect the controller workforce. Any new technology, the union said, should complement rather than replace the experience, training and judgment of the controllers responsible for safety in the airspace system.

Both the FAA and NATCA are dealing with a shortfall of thousands of certified professional controllers, though the two sides disagree on the number. NATCA said it was left out in similar fashion a few months earlier, when the agency issued an updated staffing blueprint. That plan sets a target of 12,563 certified professional controllers, thousands below the earlier goal of 14,633. The FAA previously calculated its headcount target with union input.

Airlines, by contrast, have been closely involved in the rollout. Delta Air Lines chief executive Ed Bastian said in a statement Monday that the carrier is taking part.