Federal regulators are turning to AI software to reduce the amount of weather delays and cancellations air travelers face, especially in the spring and summer.
The new technology will help air traffic controllers and airline staff find new ways to travel amid inclement weather that typically keeps planes grounded.
“We [currently] take a meat-cleaver approach when you have weather. Shut it all down. Don’t let anyone fly,” said Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy in an interview with CBS News. “With the software, we can better find tracks and movement for aircraft to navigate weather and do it safely.”
The new software will launch in phases before going live in air traffic control towers across the nation.
“It’s going to be deployed in September,” Duffy said. “We’re going to slow roll it. It’s going to be tested in very confined areas as we roll it out. So I think that as we look to next spring, when this gets fully rolled out, what you’re going to find is software where you can better navigate weather safely.”
Summer is an especially chaotic time for weather-related flight disruptions. Frequent thunderstorms that roll across the country in late spring and throughout summer and early fall can cause huge disruptions to thousands of flights.
This week, for example, there were more than 7,000 flights delayed or canceled as massive thunderstorm systems swept across the Midwest, CBS reported.
Due to the weather conditions, the FAA issued temporary groundstops at major airports like Chicago O’Hare and New York-area hubs.
However, this time next year, the damage to flight schedules might not be so severe with the new technology, according to Duffy.
“I think you’ll see next summer—it won’t be done—but you’ll see a marked improvement next summer versus this summer,” Duffy said.
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