The sky is getting busier — and riskier. Rockets, drones, and flying taxis will all soon be carving out their own lanes in the sky, creating a whole new headache for air traffic management. And with commercial space travel booming — thanks to Elon Musk’s SpaceX — things are about to get even more complicated, the Financial Times reports.

Aviation experts warn that the way we manage airspace needs an overhaul. Passenger planes are expected to increase by a third by 2034, reaching over 36k. At the same time, we could see 10k electrical vertical takeoff and landing aircraft (eVTOLs) soon taking to the skies, not to mention increasing rocket launches that rain down parts through the path of flying vehicles.

More planes, more problems. “There are more users and more vehicles that want to use airspace ... the way that we provide our services will probably need to change significantly,” said Eduardo Garcia, senior manager at air traffic management body Canso. Translation? The old rules aren’t going to cut it anymore.

We’ve already started to see incidents tick up: Late last month, a crash between a US Army Black Hawk helicopter and an American Airlines regional jet getting ready to land in DC’s Reagan National Airport made headlines worldwide, with no passengers surviving the deadly crash and descent. Preliminary investigations by US transportation authorities indicate that possible radio interference may have contributed to the deadly crash — an issue that could again prove deadly as more and more vehicles take to the skies.

The problem isn’t just planes, though. Last month Qantas had to delay flights between Australia and South Africa over concerns that debris from a SpaceX rocket could re-enter the atmosphere and land in the Indian Ocean. As more and more companies enter space, the threat posed by debris is only set to expand, with increasing numbers of startups in the process of developing re-entry rockets for goods soon set to be manufactured in space.

Critically, there still aren’t solid rules regulating the re-entry of space launch debris. This has already caused headaches for governments and citizens, with Spain notably having to shut down its airspace in 2022 amid concerns over the uncontrolled re-entry of a Chinese rocket. While many spacecraft now have end-of-life deorbit plans, there's still no universal rule making controlled re-entry mandatory — offering a key area for future space and aviation regulation.

But that’s not all — enter drones and flying taxis. Drones are already causing mayhem for airlines, with London’s Gatwick Airport famously shutting down for 36 hours in 2019 after drone sightings delayed flights for some 140k passengers. Then there’s the next wave of futuristic airborne vehicles — flying taxis. Companies have been promising these rides for years, but according to Bain & Company, commercial air taxi services could finally start in the next two to three years and reach widespread adoption within a decade. While convenient for city commuters, more airborne vehicles just adds another layer of complexity to an already congested airspace — especially given that these battery-powered, non-pilot operated aircrafts will have to have their own traffic system below 5k feet.

The question is, can air traffic control keep up? The UK’s air traffic control service in London has been testing routes for eVTOLs between major airports, treating them like helicopters for now. The US’ Federal Aviation Administration has already reduced airspace closures for space launches, cutting average downtime from four hours to two, but with increasing traffic, that might not be enough. So what’s the fix? Experts say the answer lies in automation, meaning at some point AI is going to have to step in and help air traffic controllers keep things from turning into complete chaos.

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