U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean P. Duffy and Federal Aviation Administrator (FAA) Bryan Bedford today unveiled the Strategic Management of Airspace, Routes and Trajectories (SMART) – a cutting-edge tool that centralizes 200 data streams – including weather patterns, flight paths, traffic flow, and controller staffing metrics – into one platform. SMART’s AI-supported engine then synthesizes all this data to provide a comprehensive visualization of where planes are going, how much traffic the system can handle, and where congestion or weather could cause challenges.
Aviation specialists can use the platform to see what conditions will be in the future and make recommendations to fix the problems before they arise.
Key benefits of SMART include:
- Fewer delays & cancellations: Flyers will spend less time waiting on the tarmac, circling above their arrival airport, or dealing with diversions.
- Optimized airspace: Unlocks more capacity with more efficient routing around bad weather and congestion.
- More predictable operations: Preventing disruptions before they happen will reduce stress on controllers, let them focus on their more mission – safety.
- Lower ticket prices: When airlines waste less fuel, reduce staff overtime, and have more planes arrive on time, operating costs fall. That means cost savings for consumers
“Thanks to President Trump’s leadership, we are already making remarkable progress on building a brand new air traffic control system. But to really improve the flying experience for the American people, we needed to build a 21st century scheduling tool like SMART,” said U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean P. Duffy. “By fundamentally reshaping how we manage our airspace and preventing problems before they happen, SMART will slash those frustrating delays, reduce stress on air traffic controllers, and lower travel prices. The Trump Administration is committed to making flying hassle-free and affordable again.”
How it works:
At the beginning of each day, thousands of scheduled flights face built-in delays because demand for airspace can exceed an airport’s capacity. When too many flights are scheduled to use the same airspace at the same time, congestion builds and delays follow. Weather can further reduce available airspace capacity, forcing the FAA to reroute flights or shutdown large portions of the airspace. The result is a system that too often has to react to disruptions as they happen and unnecessary delays for passengers.
SMART fixes this by moving the FAA from a reactive approach to a predictive one. Instead of waiting for congestion to build, SMART uses data to help the FAA anticipate demand, weather and airspace constraints and plan hours, days and even weeks ahead.
The FAA began using SMART in a limited mode today in the airspace around Washington, D.C. and plans to gradually expand it to other parts of the country. SMART cannot be used to replace the critical role air traffic controllers play or take over control of an aircraft. All of SMART’s recommendations are reviewed by FAA staff, and local leadership at air traffic control facilities can choose to accept or pass on these scheduling suggestions.
Learn more about SMART and its specific capabilities here.
“Thanks to the leadership of President Trump and Secretary Duffy, we are moving at record speed to build the modern air traffic control system America needs,” said FAA Administrator Bryan Bedford. “Combining SMART with our ongoing hardware upgrades gives us the tools to cut flight delays, optimize traffic, and keep airspace capacity across the country open–all while maintaining our gold standard of safety.”
“United believes that using SMART to open airspace intelligently has the potential to significantly reduce delays and cancellations during weather events. If it works as we think it can, it will do more to reduce delays and cancellations than anything that’s happened in decades,” said United Airlines CEO Scott Kirby. “We are excited to partner with the FAA to realize the potential benefits for our customers and employees.”
“Delta fully supports the FAA’s efforts to modernize the National Airspace System through investments in technologies that can enhance operational efficiency, improve situational awareness, and help reduce congestion, including the SMART initiative,” said Delta Air Lines CEO Ed Bastian. “We appreciate the FAA’s collaborative approach and are actively engaged in the development process. As implementation begins, we look forward to continuing to work closely with the FAA and industry partners to ensure these tools deliver meaningful benefits for our people, our customers, and the broader aviation system.”
“We applaud Secretary Duffy and Administrator Bedford for their efforts to leverage technology to make the airspace more efficient and safer,” said American Airlines CEO Robert Isom. “We are working closely with the FAA on their ATC modernization efforts and programs like SMART – which when done thoughtfully and methodically will offer enhanced benefit to the traveling public.”
“I’m encouraged by the early work we have seen on the FAA’s new SMART system. It has the real potential to more efficiently manage the nation’s airspace and reduce flight delays and cancellations for our customers,” said Southwest Airlines CEO Bob Jordan. “We look forward to continuing our collaboration with Secretary Duffy and Administrator Bedford to move the new technology forward.”
“The United States has the largest and safest airspace in the world. The FAA SMART initiative is finally making sure we will have the best flight management tools as well,” said Airlines for America CEO & President Chris Sununu. “Its potential to strengthen safety, increase capacity and improve efficiency will have a direct positive effect on American travelers and the shipping public, reducing delays and cancellations across the country. We’re just in the initial stages, but it’s one of the most exciting and bold initiatives taken on by the FAA in decades.”
Additional Information:
President Trump & Secretary Duffy have already made incredible progress in transforming the national air space for the better.
Thanks to the Working Families Tax Cut, the Department is deploying $12.5B at breakneck speed – upgrading telecommunications lines, installing new radios and radars, and transitioning to electronic flight strips. This deployment is set to be completed by the end of 2028, with all 13 modernization workstreams on track.
Track the progress at Modern Skies.
Secretary Duffy has also worked around the clock to supercharge our air traffic control pipeline and recruit the next generation of air traffic controllers. We have:
- Recruited a record-breaking 4,000 controllers in the pipeline in the first 18 months of President Trump’s Administration
- Had the fastest application pace in American history for controllers
- Reached our highest staffing levels in a decade, with approximately 11,000 controllers currently in our towers
- Shaved more than five months off the time-to-hire process
- Incentivized the best and brightest with significant bonuses to older controllers to delay retirement AND cash awards to new hires
