FAA expands AI traffic planning tool to all 22 US en route centers

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) said it is expanding the use of its AI-assisted traffic planning tool to airspace managed by all 22 US air route traffic control centers, even after more than two dozen lawmakers called for a pause in its Washington-area rollout.

In announcing the expansion on November 10, 2026, the FAA said the tool had helped reroute 180 flights in the Washington area. The agency reported average savings of 10 minutes and nearly 80 gallons of fuel per rerouted flight.

The system, called Strategic Management of Airspace, Routes and Trajectories (SMART), draws on 200 data streams, including weather, flight paths, traffic volumes and controller staffing. It helps air traffic planners anticipate where demand could exceed capacity and identify opportunities to reroute flights before congestion builds.

FAA specialists at the SMART center in Washington review the data and send scheduling recommendations to the agency’s Air Traffic Control System Command Center in Warrenton, Virginia. The command center passes those recommendations to the facilities responsible for the affected airspace. Local managers then decide whether to act on them.

Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy and FAA Administrator Bryan Bedford unveiled SMART on September 21, 2026, when the agency began limited operations involving flights at Reagan National (DCA), Washington Dulles (IAD) and Baltimore/Washington International (BWI) airports.

In October, the lawmakers asked the FAA to explain how it had tested the system for safety and trained staff to use it. The agency’s November 10 update did not address those questions.The post FAA expands AI traffic planning tool to all 22 US en route centers appeared first on AeroTime.

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