The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has awarded an $875 million-worth contract to the AI software company Air Space Intelligence, the federal agency announced on Monday, June 22.
Spanning over 12 years, the deal is intended to modernise the U.S.’s air traffic management system, reducing flight delays and improving scheduling efficiency.
SMART system
Air Space Intelligence will deploy a new system called Strategic Management of Airspace, Routes, and Trajectories (SMART), which uses data on flight schedules, weather, airport capacity and other conditions to predict traffic flow and potential congestion issues.
Phillip Buckendorf, CEO of Air Space Intelligence, said:
“[The system will use] commercially proven technology already helping everyone from major airlines to the broader aviation community operate more efficiently and predictably.”
The FAA plans to begin using the SMART software in the fall, with the system also set to provide aggregated information to air traffic controllers and airlines.
Long-awaited update
According to Forbes, some of the air traffic management systems operating in the U.S. date back to the 1960s, when the nation’s carriers dealt with around 60 million passengers a year – compared with the current figure of 1 billion passengers.
U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said:
“We must change how flights are managed,” adding that SMART “will fundamentally reshape how the airspace is managed – slashing thousands of delays and cancellations in the process.”
U.S. aviation lobbying group Airlines for America also expressed satisfaction with the investment, stating that it would:
“Make air traffic more efficient and timely while maintaining our gold standard of safety,” by providing airlines with “more efficient routings and more predictable information about system capacity.”
Some carriers have, however, expressed concerns privately to the FAA regarding which flights would be rescheduled if congestion were predicted, Reuters reported.
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