Delta Air Lines CEO Ed Bastian has revealed the area of aviation where he believes AI will have the biggest impact: air traffic control.
Speaking on the Fortune 500: Titans and Disruptors of Industry podcast, Bastian said the journey from Atlanta to New York takes longer today due to inefficiencies in air traffic management. He added:
All that technology investment that we put in AI is not going to change that, unless it’s focused on, how do you unlock the sky.
US air traffic control systems have come under increasing strain in recent years. Bastian notes that the technology is in need of an update, while staffing shortages have been compounded by recent government shutdowns.
The Trump administration, under Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy, have announced a comprehensive overhaul into American ATC systems. The US$31.5 billion plan includes building six new ATC towers and implementing new radio and radar systems. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has also confirmed that they are developing machine learning and LLMs to analyse incident reports and develop a comprehensive picture of risk patterns.
Bastian’s comments come in the wake of several high-profile air traffic incidents across the US. Most notably, in March shortage of ATC personnel at LaGuardia airport resulted in two deaths and multiple injuries after an Air Canada plane crashed with a ground services van while landing on the runway.
Join us at Aerospace Tech Week 2026 to discuss the future of ATC, flight ops, and AI.
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