ILA 2026: Large crowds for the A380, the military comes into focus

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The political desire for greater European sovereignty was also one of the defining themes of the International Air and Space Exhibition (ILA), which concluded on Sunday at Berlin Brandenburg Airport. Federal Chancellor Friedrich Merz (CDU) used the trade fair to present the federal government's aviation strategy.

To secure aviation as a strategically key industry and relieve it, Merz referred to the already decided relief package: The obligation to blend synthetic E-kerosene was already dropped at the beginning of the year. Furthermore, the federal government intends to reverse the last increase in air traffic tax in the summer and reduce air traffic control fees.

Great interest in the A380

The ILA recorded around 110,000 visitors this year. 765 exhibitors from 37 nations presented products and services for aerospace on more than 200,000 square meters. 330 delegations from around 60 countries used the ILA for political exchange and cooperation. In addition to European sovereignty, sustainability and the use of autonomous air and spacecraft were again important topics.

About 100 aircraft were on display on the ground and in the air this year. The crowd-puller of the aircraft exhibition on the tarmac was an A380 from Emirates, which could also be inspected from the inside. During the public days on the weekend, visitors sometimes waited up to two hours in line. Those who still joined the queue had the opportunity to take a look into the Business and First Class on the upper deck: an opportunity that is rather unlikely on a normal vacation trip.

However, not all aircraft could be inspected from the inside – for example, the A350-1000, which proved impressively agile for such a large passenger aircraft during the airshow. The first built test aircraft of the A350-1000 type was on display at the ILA. Even in its normal variant, the A350 is a very economical aircraft. Airbus recently developed an Ultra Long Range variant that is intended to enable flights of up to 22 hours non-stop. The maiden flight of this model only took place at the beginning of June.


There was also great interest in the flight demonstrations of the Eurofighter jets, which utilized all spatial dimensions with spirals and loopings.

The topic of defense takes up a large space at the ILA, which is divided into three areas: aviation, space, and defense. Many companies serve both civil and military aviation and space, and the topic of “dual use” is becoming increasingly important. This also applies to organizations such as the European Space Agency ESA, which is actually responsible for civil spaceflight. Specifically, this applies to the satellite navigation network Galileo – a joint project of ESA and the EU. And the ESA's Copernicus Earth observation program is also open to military use.

Drones and research aircraft

Various drones were also part of the airshow. Visually, they were not a particular highlight, mainly due to the distance, but technically they were all the more interesting. One of the drones shown was the AI-controlled Vector AI UAS from Quantum Systems, which was presented in March 2025.

At the interface between aviation and space, the special “Zero G A310” was on display at the ILA. The research aircraft from Novespace has been converted for parabolic flights, which enable experiments in weightlessness and thus contribute to astronaut training. The aircraft flies at a climb angle of up to 50 degrees. At the peak of the parabola, there is weightlessness for 22 seconds.

In the Space Pavilion, the main focus was on the moon. On Wednesday morning, Dorothee Bär (CSU), Federal Minister for Research, Technology and Space, together with ESA Director General Josef Aschbacher, ESA reserve astronaut Amelie Schönenwald, and ESA astronauts Alexander Gerst and Matthias Maurer, opened the area. Europe's ambitions on the moon were discussed several times in the stage program. However, Aschbacher could report little new information about ESA's role in the Artemis program.

ESA must negotiate with NASA again

NASA has recently restructured the Artemis program significantly. The Gateway, the originally planned space station around the moon, has been paused in favor of a base on the lunar surface. ESA was supposed to develop modules for the Gateway and in return receive three crew seats on future Artemis missions. This agreement is no longer valid, Aschbacher reports: “Luca Parmitano's flight on Artemis III is not one of the three flights intended for the Gateway, because the Gateway is currently paused. We are really starting to negotiate again. My ambition is to also get astronaut flights to the lunar surface. My team and I are currently negotiating with NASA.” According to Aschbacher, it is not yet foreseeable how long these negotiations will take. He hopes to be finished with them by the end of the year.

(vbr)