FAA grounds flights days after SMART AI tool goes nationwide

The FAA's SMART tool had previously been running only in Washington, DC, before its nationwide rollout. The agency describes SMART as a shift from reactive to predictive air traffic management, meant to reduce delays, cut fuel consumption and improve the travel experience. Friday's nationwide ground stop was the first since January 2023.

Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy blamed a communication issue impacting all Air Route Traffic Control Centers, attributing it to overloaded legacy telecom switches and routers. He did not mention SMART. Homeland Security administrator Markwayne Mullin, when pressed on camera, said officials were 'looking at that' and working with counterparts across agencies.

Air Space Intelligence, the startup that beat Palantir and Thales for the 12-year, $875 million FAA contract in June, said Friday evening that the stoppage was not based on or a result of the SMART system or its integration with the FAA and air traffic control. Neither the FAA nor Duffy has publicly linked the system to Friday's stop, nor have they publicly cleared it.