FAA rolls out $875 million AI system to help ease air traffic congestion

FAA Trials AI Tool Amid a Decades-Long Air Traffic Controller Shortage

The FAA has run its first trial of an AI-powered tool as the agency struggles with a staffing crisis in air traffic control that has persisted for more than four decades. The test comes at a pivotal moment: the agency is under pressure to modernize its operations while simultaneously trying to rebuild a workforce that has never fully recovered from cuts made in the 1980s.

A Workforce in "Permanent Crisis"

The origins of the shortage trace back to 1981, when President Ronald Reagan dismissed more than 11,000 air traffic controllers. According to Mann, the controller workforce has operated in a "permanent crisis" ever since, functioning at minimum staffing levels.

Hiring attempts have repeatedly failed to close the gap. A US Government Accountability Office report published in December 2025 found that the overall workforce shrank by 6 percent over the past decade. Recruitment was further hampered by government shutdowns in 2013 and 2018–2019, which froze both hiring and training, as well as by training restrictions tied to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Recent Turbulence for the Agency

The FAA's staffing troubles continued into 2025. At the start of the second Trump administration, hundreds of new probationary federal hires were laid off by Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) team. While air traffic controllers themselves were exempt, the cuts hit some employees who worked on air traffic control systems. A federal judge ultimately ordered the FAA to reinstate 132 of those workers.

The workforce then endured a 43-day government shutdown from October 1 to November 12, 2025, during which controllers worked without pay. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said 15 to 20 controllers were retiring each day during the shutdown, compared with an average of four per day. FAA chief Bryan Bedford added that the agency lost up to 500 controller trainees over the same period.

Betting on Technology and Modernization

FAA leadership appears to be pinning hopes on modernization efforts and new technologies, including the AI-driven SMART system, to relieve the shortage. In May of this year, the agency lowered its estimated controller requirement for the 2026 to 2028 period by roughly 2,000 controllers.

The risks, however, are substantial. On January 29, 2025, 67 people died when a US Army Black Hawk helicopter collided with an American Airlines passenger jet just southeast of Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport. Investigators identified understaffing at the airport tower as one of several "causal factors," noting that a single controller was managing both helicopter and runway traffic on the night of the crash.

How the SMART system performs in early trials — and whether the FAA can rebuild its trainee pipeline — will be key indicators of whether technology can offset a shortage decades in the making.

Meta description: The FAA trials an AI-driven tool as it confronts a decades-long air traffic controller shortage worsened by shutdowns and DOGE cuts.

Tags: FAA, air traffic control, AI, SMART system, aviation safety

Featured image: Abstract illustration of glowing flight paths converging over a stylized radar screen in dark blue tones.