US FAA head meets with airline CEOS on plan to cut flight delays

The head of the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), Bryan Bedford, met with CEOs from major U.S. passenger airlines on September 10, 2023, to discuss the administration's plan to utilize advanced software to overhaul flight scheduling and improve flight management. The software, known as SMART, will be rolled out this month and promises to revolutionize decision-making through predictive analytics.

The primary goal of SMART is to enhance the rescheduling of flights that have been canceled due to adverse weather conditions. However, its potential applications extend beyond this, with the system eventually being used for strategic coordination of flight schedules and trajectories before takeoff.

In June, the FAA awarded an $875 million, 12-year contract to Air Space Intelligence for the SMART system. This system leverages data to analyze airline schedules, weather conditions, airport capacity, airspace conditions, and operational constraints, thereby predicting traffic flows and identifying potential conflicts before they occur.

The FAA has been grappling with congestion issues for years, exacerbated by rising demand, runway construction, severe weather incidents, and air traffic controller shortages. In April, the agency ordered airlines to cut 300 daily flights at Chicago O'Hare through October 2027 due to congestion concerns. The FAA also extended these flight cuts at Newark and other New York-area airports in June.

Airlines for America, the main industry trade group, welcomed the FAA's SMART initiative, emphasizing its potential to positively impact American travelers by reducing delays and cancellations nationwide. United CEO Scott Kirby expressed optimism about the system's ability to significantly reduce delays and cancellations during weather events, stating, "Using SMART to open airspace intelligently has the potential to significantly reduce delays and cancellations during weather events."