Challenges from the Introduction of Artificial Intelligence in the European Air Traffic Management System

The Air Traffic Management (ATM) system can be defined as a “Joint Cognitive System” of people, teams, and artifacts that adapts to the challenges and demands posed by familiar and unfamiliar situations in a dynamically evolving operational context. In the era of digitalization and Big Data we live, an incremental modernization of the ATM system is expected in the coming years with the pervasive implementation of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML). In this paper, we present the findings from an initial attempt to detect and document the fundamental challenges of the introduction of AI, in the European ATM system through the lens of Cognitive Systems Engineering paradigm. We also discuss how these challenges give rise to difficult to resolve safety and performance related patterns in the ATM system.