A system for control of the air path of an internal combustion engine including a feed-forward controller and a feed-back controller. The feed-forward controller configured to in a sampling period, obtain model parameter values, incorporate the modeled parameter values and reference values into an optimization for a nonlinear model predictive control, perform a Newton method iteration of the optimization in order to determine a solution, and issue commands that control inputs for engine operation based on the solution. The feed-back controller configured to obtain modeled parameter values, obtain measured parameter values based on the operating condition of the engine, incorporate the modeled parameter values, measured parameter values, and reference values into an optimization for a nonlinear model predictive control, perform a Newton method iteration of the optimization in order to determine a solution, and issue commands that control inputs for engine operation based on the solution.