Flying sustainably: eSAF from Brandenburg
ILA 2026 shows how climate-friendly aviation becomes concrete: with investments, cooperation agreements and demonstrators you can touch.
Deals · ILA Berlin 2026 Photo: Messe Berlin / Johannes Zappe Half a billion for green kerosene
MB Energy and Zaffra agree an eSAF plant in Schwedt at ILA, while the Airbus Racer proves in the flying display how much efficiency new technology holds.
At ILA Berlin 2026, sustainability was not a panel topic but an investment topic. The most tangible example: MB Energy and Zaffra signed a memorandum of understanding for an eSAF plant in Schwedt, Brandenburg. From 2030 it is set to produce around 30,000 tonnes of sustainable kerosene per year, with an investment volume of at least 500 million euros.
Policy delivered signatures too: the European Clean Aviation Joint Undertaking agreed a memorandum of cooperation with Brandenburg and Saxony on developing sustainable aircraft technologies. The message: the capital region wants to be more than a trade show location, it wants to produce and research climate-friendly flight.
Efficiency you can watch fly
How much efficiency new technology holds was demonstrated daily in the sky by the Airbus Helicopters Racer: the high-speed demonstrator achieved 25 percent fuel savings at 180 knots, beating its own target, with an eco mode expected to add another 15 percent. On the ground, DLR demonstrators completed the picture, from a Dornier 328 converted to fly on synthetic fuel to a liquid hydrogen tank concept.
The bar for ILA 2028 is set: sustainability here does not mean promises, it means plant construction, cooperation contracts and flying displays.