The Federal Aviation Administration has awarded an $875 million contract to Air Space Intelligence, a small startup already known for helping Alaska Airlines manage its daily flight operations. The company will build what the FAA calls the SMART system, short for Strategic Management of Airspace, Routes, and Trajectories. The deal marks one of the most ambitious steps yet in the effort to modernize how America’s skies are managed.
How the Technology Works
Air Space Intelligence built its reputation through a tool called Flyways, which Alaska Airlines has used since 2021. The system doesn’t choose a flight’s route or waypoints on its own — instead, it offers suggestions that can help a dispatcher find a more efficient path. Alaska Airlines currently runs roughly 1,500 flights a day, coordinated by a team of dispatchers working from a operations hub near Seattle-Tacoma International Airport. The FAA hopes a version of this same approach can scale up to guide traffic across the entire country.
Dispatchers Warmed Up Slowly
Trust in the system didn’t come immediately at Alaska. Bret Peyton, who works with the airline’s dispatch team, said it took time to convince staff that the tool functions as “a decision-making aid” rather than something that operates unpredictably on its own. That kind of hesitation is worth watching as the technology moves from one airline’s operations center to the busiest, most complex airspace in the world — a jump that has left some skeptics questioning whether the approach can truly scale.
Part of a Bigger Push
The contract fits into the Trump administration’s push for a new air traffic control system, with FAA officials stressing the goal is to support air traffic controllers, not replace them. Given ongoing public attention on air traffic safety and staffing, how this technology performs in real-world testing will likely shape the public conversation around AI’s role in aviation.
The Readovia Lens
This story is really about trust moving in stages — from a single airline’s dispatch floor to the entire national airspace. The FAA’s own framing, that this tool assists rather than replaces controllers, suggests officials are aware that public confidence, not just software performance, will determine whether this modernization effort succeeds.
