FAA expands $875 million SMART AI air traffic advisory system from Washington, DC to all 22 centers nationwide

On 10 November 2026 the FAA said it will use SMART, a cloud-based system that combines weather, flight paths, traffic flow and controller staffing data to suggest schedules, routes and arrival order, across all 22 en-route air traffic control centres. It began over the Washington, DC region on 21 September and has since spread to the Atlanta, Jacksonville and Miami centres. A human FAA team in DC validates each recommendation, and local controllers can accept or reject it. The FAA says SMART rerouted 180 DC-area flights, saving about 10 minutes and almost 80 gallons of fuel per flight, but these figures are the agency's own and have not been independently checked.

If the FAA's numbers hold, airlines and passengers could see fewer delays and lower fuel costs, which is why airline chiefs are backing it. It is an advisory tool, so the immediate effect on controllers is limited. Even so, the controllers' union says it was not consulted on design or testing, which could cause friction over trust and over how much weight their judgement gets. The real impact is uncertain, because 180 flights over roughly seven weeks is a small sample and the system is now moving from a pilot to 22 centres.

Claims of a better travel experience and nationwide delay cuts are projections from a small DC-area sample, not demonstrated results. The $875 million figure and the savings per flight lack context: there is no baseline, no comparison with flights that were not rerouted, and no independent audit. Much of the coverage also repeats an expansion already announced in September as if it were new.

1. 01Independent or FAA-published data on delays, taxi and holding times, and fuel use in the DC, Atlanta, Jacksonville and Miami areas, compared with the same periods before SMART, as the rollout reaches more centres.
2. 02How often controllers and the DC validation team accept, reject or override SMART's recommendations, and any safety reports or incidents linked to them.
3. 03Whether the controllers' union (NATCA) gets a formal role in testing and oversight, and whether Congress, the DOT inspector general or the GAO review the $875 million programme.