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Influencing Policies Shaping the Future

  • 03 Feb 2025
  • An interview with Dan Carnelly, ICCAIA Vice President and Permanent Representative to ICAO

On 7 December 1944, with World War II still raging, representatives from 52 nations gathered in Chicago to sign a historic agreement: the Convention on International Civil Aviation. This landmark event established a unified global aviation system founded on safety, efficiency, and collaboration, and gave rise to the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO). Eight decades later, on the same date in 2024, ICAO marked the 80th anniversary of the Chicago Convention, celebrating its enduring legacy.

Supporting ICAO’s mission is the International Coordinating Council of Aerospace Industries Associations (ICCAIA). Representing a global network of aerospace manufacturers and service providers through regional and national associations, ICCAIA provides a platform for players to contribute to the shape of international standards and regulations for modern air transport.

Aerospace Singapore speaks to Dan Carnelly, ICCAIA Vice President and Permanent Representative to ICAO, during his recent Asia-Pacific tour.

Tell us about ICCAIA’s role and mission within the global aerospace industry. 

Our primary role is to interact with ICAO, the United Nations’ specialised agency for aviation. ICAO sets global standards for  everything in aviation—airworthiness certification, aerodrome standards, environmental sustainability, and more. Our main objective is to achieve harmonised standards and recommended practices worldwide. 

A patchwork of local regulations would be unmanageable for manufacturers and suppliers. By fostering a harmonised framework, we aim to support ICAO in establishing standards for safe, secure, and efficient air transport. This, in turn, ensures sustainable growth for the global aerospace manufacturing industry.

Mr Dan Carnelly, ICCAIA Vice President and Permanent Representative to ICAO. Photo: Aerospace Singapore

That is a substantial, broad and important role. What resources does ICCAIA draw on to represent the global industry’s perspectives and provide input to ICAO?

Yes, if we look at recent data from Cirium, there are some 26,000 civil aircraft in operation today so you can just imagine how large the ecosystem is. And over the next 20 years, demand is projected to rise to 45,900 new aircraft. There are a series of underlying challenges with that, such as addressing infrastructure, integrating new aircraft into airport, managing air traffic, safety, alongside sustainability. 

ICCAIA itself has a small staff—just five people. However, our strength lies in our members, which include aircraft manufacturers, OEMs, MROs, suppliers and numerous SMEs. Currently, around 450 technical and policy experts from these organisations contribute to standards development. While our organisation is compact, we have substantial resources through our members to ensure effective feedback to ICAO.

What are some recent examples or success stories?

The aviation industry contributes around 2 to 2.5% of global man-made CO2 emissions. With the fleet set to double in size, mitigating environmental impact is crucial. Sustainability, therefore, is a focus area for us. 

One of our most significant achievements was rallying the global industry and ICAO to set a single goal aligned with the Paris Agreement, that is the net zero by 2050 target, referred to as the Long-Term Aspirational Goal (LTAG). This process was supported by a comprehensive report, which involved approximately 50 contributors providing technical data and insights on the landscape from now to 2050. This is to ensure that the objectives set were both ambitious and achievable.

Another major success was achieved at an ICAO conference in Dubai last year, where interim targets for sustainable aviation fuels (SAFs) were set for 2030. Our advocacy and technical input led to ICAO adopting ICCAIA’s SAF goals as their own. This demonstrates the significant influence we wield within ICAO, thanks to the extensive contributions of our members.

Apart from SAFs, what other aspects of sustainability is ICCAIA actively working on or contributing to?

SAFs are a priority because by 2030, all products must be capable of operating on 100% SAF. However, as we go into the mid-2030s, alternative energy sources such as hybrid-electric and hydrogen technologies will come into play. We are working to ensure that standards are in place for these new energy solutions, addressing not only sustainability but also airworthiness, certification, and airport compatibility.

For example, with electric aircraft, we need a standardised charging infrastructure worldwide to avoid inconsistencies. Similarly, we must examine operational factors like performance—will electric or hydrogen-powered aircraft climb at the same rate or cruise at similar altitudes as current jets? Such differences could impact airport operations and air traffic management.

Hydrogen, in particular, presents unique challenges. For instance, what firefighting capabilities are required for hydrogen fires? How should airports handle hydrogen spills compared to jet fuel spills? These are critical questions requiring thorough study.

Some ICCAIA members manufacture air traffic management (ATM) systems and together, we are exploring ways to make operations more efficient using existing technologies. For instance, introducing more automated procedures, such as Required Time of Arrival (RTA), can significantly reduce fuel burn by sequencing arriving aircraft more efficiently. This not only lowers emissions but also enhances infrastructure capacity, allowing more aircraft to operate seamlessly.

Our sustainability efforts extend beyond aircraft design to encompass their usage, to ensure that all aspects of aviation contribute to our goals.

You noted Airworthiness as another crucial area ICCAIA addresses. Tell us about some of the areas that ICCAIA is actively working on in this domain.

We are at a pivotal moment in the industry, with significant innovation and the emergence of new market segments. These new areas are now a primary focus alongside traditional domains.

Earlier, I touched upon the work needed for new propulsion systems and energy sources. One of our major focuses in airworthiness involves the certification of new systems, such as emergency locator transmitters and runway alerting systems. Following the Narita runway incident, attention has turned to technologies that prevent encroachment on active runways. This involves both airport and onboard aircraft systems.

The emerging technologies of advanced air mobility (AAM) is another area of significant complexity. Different regions approach its integration differently, with some opting for sandbox testing and others favouring operational-based certification. Key challenges include integrating AAM vehicles into existing airspace, addressing cybersecurity risks, and ensuring they seamlessly interact with traditional terminal management areas.

Airworthiness also intersects with communications and navigation. Issues like GNSS spoofing and jamming have made it essential to maintain traditional navigation infrastructure, which was previously being phased out. Similarly, spectrum protection has become critical, especially with telecommunications companies advancing from 5G to 6G and beyond. We must safeguard the aerospace industry’s access to spectrum for future developments.

Automation and autonomy are also key focus areas. Emerging concepts, such as connected aircraft and hyper-connected ATM,  introduce challenges in ensuring secure communications. These efforts span both safety-critical and non-safety-critical systems.    

Collectively, these developments represent the immense changes and challenges the industry will face over the next three to five years.

We recognise harmonisation across regions and countries as crucial for new technologies to take off. How does ICCAIA add value to this process?

Harmonisation is primarily ICAO’s responsibility as it produces global Standards and Recommended Practices that states must either adopt or provide justification for non-compliance. ICCAIA contributes by developing industry consensus positions through its Technical Committees. These positions are then fed into ICAO’s technical working groups. 

We have representatives on over 50 ICAO panels. By contributing to ICAO’s rulemaking process, issues important to a region are elevated to an international platform. This ensures that overarching regulations reflect local needs before cascading into national law.

Given the broad scope of these issues, how does ICCAIA decide on forming working groups?

ICCAIA has a Strategy Committee that interacts with and oversees the work of its Technical Committees. 

When a Technical Committee identifies a new issue or priority, it reports this to the Strategy Committee for discussion. Conversely, the Strategy Committee helps prioritise issues as they arise.

Some focus areas, such as GNSS issues, demand immediate attention and resolution. Others, like AAM, require long-term strategic planning and cross-cutting expertise. This layered approach allows us to allocate resources effectively and manage different timelines for various areas.

What challenges does ICCAIA face in encouraging greater participation from Asia-Pacific associations?

The biggest barrier is often time zones!

More seriously, the key challenge lies in helping regional players understand the value of investing their time in participation. Involvement ensures a level playing field and reduces market distortions. It also smooths the path for new technologies and products. On a broader level, participation puts regional players on equal footing with major global manufacturers.

In Singapore, for example, AAIS (the Association of Aerospace Industries (Singapore)), has been contributing significantly to our AAM working group and has taken the reins as Vice-Chair of the ICCAIA MRO small group. MRO certification harmonisation has been a long-standing challenge in the region and ICAO is working on a programme to standardise certifications, aiming for multilateral recognition in the next five years or so. Efforts are being driven by Singapore and Malaysia, highlighting how regional voices can influence global standards.

In what other ways is ICCAIA’s work relevant to Singapore’s aerospace community, and how can AAIS contribute as an associate member?

While our primary mandate is with ICAO in Montreal, we also engage with other UN agencies, such as the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP). These engagements cover critical topics like chemicals management and end-of-life aircraft recycling. 

Participation is key. Singapore’s voice must be heard, and ICCAIA ensures that its concerns are represented globally. By participating in ICCAIA and ICAO panels, AAIS and its members can directly influence regulations and its impacts.

Tell us more about yourself and your professional journey. What inspired you to become an advocate for the industry?

I’m an aerospace engineer by training. After graduating, I went straight from university to Airbus headquarters in Toulouse, where I worked in customer services engineering. Later, I went into technical sales or marketing, which involved calculating aircraft performance to ensure it aligned with airline requirements. I spent about 10 years in that role, working extensively in the Asia-Pacific region and managing marketing accounts in the Philippines, Taiwan, and South Korea. 

Around this time, sustainability began emerging as a significant topic and ICAO started developing its first CO2 certification standard for aircraft. 

I led Airbus’s efforts in that area, which gave me considerable exposure to ICAO. Over six years, I worked on the CO2 certification standard and during that time, I was invited to chair the ICCAIA environment committee.

As my tenure in that position was nearing its end, ICCAIA decided they wanted to establish a more permanent presence in Montreal.  I was asked to consider joining their headquarters team in a leadership capacity. I agreed, and in August 2019, I moved to Montreal with my family. I haven’t looked back since.

Finally, what new insights have you gained from your recent APAC tour?

One of the most striking observations has been the significant disruption to the supply chain and its impact on companies in the region. Many suppliers are grappling with materials and inventory challenges, and this is something of concern that I will take back with me. 

That is why a key goal of this visit was to explore partnerships with other organisations that could join ICCAIA. This can help broaden Asia-Pacific’s influence within the global aerospace community. Building these relationships is a two-way street—we bring value to the region, and the region strengthens our collective voice in ICAO and beyond.

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