Federal Aviation Administration (FAA)
21 September 2026
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...
