Overview
- The Department of Transportation and FAA began a limited rollout of the SMART platform at Reagan National, Dulles and BWI as a 90‑day pilot that started on Monday, offering predictive routing and scheduling recommendations to human traffic managers.
- SMART consolidates about 200 data streams including schedules, weather, airport capacity and staffing to forecast traffic flows and propose actions that controllers or traffic managers may accept or ignore.
- The $875 million, 12‑year contract to build SMART was awarded to Air Space Intelligence in June and the system will be run from the FAA Command Center in Warrenton with a planned phased expansion toward nationwide use by 2028.
- The controllers’ union NATCA says it was not involved in SMART’s design or testing and has urged more review and training, while some lawmakers and watchdog reports flagged legacy communications, recent fiber cuts and GAO‑identified security gaps as unresolved risks.
- FAA and DOT say SMART is decision‑support only and expect it to reduce delays, fuel burn and cancellations if tests pass, but the pilot will determine performance gates, training needs and oversight rules before any wider deployment.