The Federal Aviation Administration awarded an $875 million contract for its AI-enabled air traffic management system to Air Space Intelligence (ASI), confirming a June 13 report from The Air Current. The award is a coup for the Boston-based startup, which beat out Palantir and Thales for a key part of the FAA’s ATC modernization strategy.

ASI received one award to build what an FAA official described as two “complementary” systems: the predictive, AI-enabled air traffic management system dubbed SMART, and a separate traffic flow data collection tool known as FMDS. SMART will begin operational validation this fall and is slated for full implementation by the end of 2028, the FAA official said.

SMART is an analytical tool that the agency believes will help proactively reduce delays caused by overlapping schedules and saturation throughout the ATC system. FMDS will replace the aging traffic flow management system used to collect aircraft positions and trajectory data, which will feed into SMART.