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FAA Eyes Palantir AI to Modernize Air Traffic Control

By Solange Reyner | Monday, 27 April 2026 02:36 PM EDT

The Trump administration is considering using Palantir's artificial intelligence tool for air traffic control as some of the nation's aging aviation systems begin to fail, Bloomberg reports.

"We are going to revolutionize our air traffic management by modernizing our software, moving to a centralized, cloud-based system that will use artificial intelligence to predict air traffic flows and adjust departure times to resolve conflicts," the Federal Aviation Administration said in a statement.

Palantir, a U.S.-based tech company that builds data analytics platforms for governments and businesses, is competing with Thales SA and Airspace Intelligence Inc. for a contract to develop SMART (Strategic Management of Airspace Routing Trajectories), an AI system that would extend air traffic conflict prediction from 15 minutes to two hours.

Palantir confirmed in a statement to investors that it has been contracted by the FAA to "provide a data analytics tool that will help advance the agency's modernization objectives for aviation safety."

The FAA has received $12.5 billion from Congress to begin modernizing the nation's air traffic control system but says it will need roughly $20 billion more to complete the overhaul.

"They're going to have to find a pathway to get us the rest of that money," Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said last week at DOT headquarters, according to Roll Call.

"It's going to take time to develop, deploy, debug, and train on it," Duffy said. "But if we start now, by the time infrastructure upgrades are complete, the software should be ready within two and a half years, giving America a brand-new system."

Duffy also confirmed the government is working to integrate AI into air traffic management, telling CBS News the system could identify congestion weeks in advance and adjust flight times by minutes to prevent delays.