FAA picks Air Space Intelligence to modernize U.S. airspace

The Federal Aviation Administration has picked Air Space Intelligence for a 12-year modernization contract worth nearly $875 million, putting the startup at the center of a new effort to give controllers shared data and predictive planning tools across the National Airspace System. The initial deployment was targeted for fall 2026, with full rollout expected by the end of 2028.

The move builds on a test case Alaska Airlines began in May 2021, when it announced a first-of-its-kind partnership with Air Space Intelligence to use artificial intelligence and machine learning to optimize air traffic flow. Alaska said the Flyways AI effort would use machine-learning models of the National Airspace System to predict future scenarios and manage exceptions network-wide, with a focus on congested airspace and bad weather. Alaska later expanded its use of the technology to plan better flight routes and lower emissions, while Air Space Intelligence says its flight-efficiency platform can optimize flights, reduce flight time, increase fuel efficiency and improve operations.

The FAA is now trying to turn that airline-level promise into a national operating system. The agency has framed the effort under Modern Skies and a SMART National Airspace System, with FAA materials describing the goal as creating a more balanced, strategically deconflicted airspace. The contract calls for two new software platforms that would give air traffic controllers a shared data environment and predictive planning tools meant to reduce delays across the system.

The policy stakes are larger than one vendor relationship. For travelers, the practical question is whether software that helps a single airline navigate congestion and weather can be scaled across every carrier, airport and traffic control workflow without creating another layer of complexity. For airlines, the payoff would be measured in less time spent circling, less fuel burned on inefficient routings and fewer cascading disruptions when the system is under stress.

The FAA has been trying to modernize air traffic management for years through NextGen, and a GAO report published in August 2017 said the agency was implementing the program incrementally and faced ongoing challenges. Air Space Intelligence now has a rare chance to show that predictive software can do more than improve one airline’s operations and can instead become part of the infrastructure that moves the country’s airspace from congestion management to planning before problems take hold.