FAA’s Rollout of SMART AI System Left Out ATC Union

NATCA says it ‘has not been involved in the design, testing, or implementation’ of the program.

Jack Daleo

Tuesday, September 22, 2026 at 08:00 AM ET

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Edited By:

Travis Tingle

FAA Administrator Bryan Bedford (left) and U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy announced SMART in April at the inaugural Modern Skies Summit in Washington, D.C. [Credit: Jack Daleo]

Key Takeaways:

The DOT and FAA have launched SMART, an AI-based system designed to proactively identify and mitigate potential air traffic conflicts and optimize routing to enhance efficiency and reduce disruptions in the National Airspace System.
The National Air Traffic Controllers Union (NATCA) reports it was excluded from SMART's development and deployment, expressing skepticism and asserting that human controllers' experience and judgment are indispensable for safety.
Airlines are actively engaged and supportive of SMART, which began a limited rollout around Washington D.C. focusing on same-day delay mitigation, with plans for gradual expansion as part of a wider modernization effort.

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The Transportation Department said Monday that it and the FAA began rolling out SMART, an AI-based program intended to identify and mitigate potential conflicts in the National Airspace System weeks before they occur.

But the union representing tens of thousands of American air traffic controllers told FLYING that it has had no involvement in the system’s development and initial deployment.