*

Major gathering of aviation leaders on eve of Singapore

Airshow

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Officials warn of supply shortages, geopolitical pressures

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US President Trump's comments on aircraft certification

last

week raised alarm

(Adds ICAO president quote, paragraph 13)

By Julie Zhu, Tim Hepher and Joe Brock

SINGAPORE, Feb 2 (Reuters) - Aviation leaders tackled

barriers to growth and the impact of geopolitical tensions on

the eve of the Singapore Airshow on Monday, while reaffirming

pledges to reduce emissions.

Supply chain problems are hurting global airlines ‌and will

remain for some time to come, the head of the International Air

Transport Association warned industry leaders and regulators.

"This disruption continues to have a major impact," IATA

Director ​General Willie Walsh said at the Changi Aviation

Summit, ahead of Asia's largest air show.

Planemakers Airbus and Boeing ( BA ) have faced

supply ‍chain problems since the COVID-19 pandemic, while engine

makers like GE Aerospace and Pratt & Whitney ⁠are

having to juggle competing demands ⁠from new plane assembly and

maintenance for existing fleets.

Aviation is also navigating geopolitical changes including

U.S. import tariffs that have upended flows of air freight.

"I think the ‌impact of geopolitical change was much more

obvious on the air cargo ​side of the business than on the

passenger side," Walsh said.

Air cargo shipments between Asia and North America slipped

0.8% last year in the first such decline for some time, while

volumes between Europe and Asia ⁠increased by 10.3%, he added.

The Asia-Pacific region is the ‍world's fastest-growing

region for ​air travel, propelled by China and India, with

passenger traffic growth of 7.3% projected for 2026.

Toshiyuki Onuma, newly elected president of the governing

council of the International Civil Aviation Organization, the

United Nations' aviation body, warned aviation would ‍struggle to

keep up with projected growth without coordinated action.

"A system built for 4 billion passengers cannot support

three times that number without transformation," he said. "We

must also accelerate progress to achieve net-zero carbon

emissions by 2050."

SUPPLY CHAIN 'WEAPONISATION'

The gathering comes as tensions over aircraft certification

threaten to disrupt a decades-old system of global aviation

norms known as the Chicago Convention.

Onuma avoided being drawn into the dispute over U.S.

President Donald Trump's demands last week for Canada to certify

certain U.S.-designed Gulfstream business jets or face tariffs,

telling reporters ​that ICAO would ‍remain "technically neutral".

"If it is obvious that some member states are violating the

Chicago Convention, then firstly ICAO's function is (to) ask

such a country to rectify the situation," he said, without

specifying whether this would apply to Trump's ​intervention.

Speaking to the 350-strong audience of aviation leaders,

he stressed the importance of global cooperation.

"Only together can we achieve a sector that is safer, more

sustainable and more competitive," Onuma said.

Trump's comments have raised alarm among airlines and

certification specialists who questioned whether aircraft

certification should become entangled in politics.

"There can be no bargaining over certification," a

senior regulatory official told Reuters.

EU Transport Commissioner Apostolos Tzitzikostas became

the latest senior figure to warn of the "weaponisation" of

supply chains as major powers pursue their geopolitical agendas.

"Today, (there are) real issues in developing the growth

of aviation in the years to ​come...issues of weaponisation of

dependencies in supply chains," he told the conference.

His comments echoed a warning last month by France's

aerospace industry over the fate of cross-border supply chains

that were built under globalisation policies now in retreat.

Aerospace executives say rare earths - a component in

jet engines - remain a particular pressure point despite ‍a

U.S.-China trade truce. China dominates the global supply of the

metals.