Ambitious pragmatism1 Progress in sustainable aviation technology and policy brings optimism, but price challenges and regional disparities demand greater pragmatism. Through 2025 and early 2026, the World Economic Forum has gathered input from more than 100 organizations in its aviation ecosystem to gauge industry progress towards net zero in 2025 and confidence in the sector’s continuing decarbonization in 2026. As part of this engagement, the Forum has consulted 40 chief executive officers (CEOs) and senior representatives to help inform this report. As with the first edition of this report, Global Aviation Sustainability Outlook 2025, this 2026 edition presents overarching perspectives captured during industry engagement in Chapter 1, reflections and expectations on technology development in Chapter 2, policy and geopolitical trends in Chapter 3, economic highlights in Chapter 4 and wider industry trends in Chapter 5. For more details on the report’s methodology, see Appendix 2. As a complement to the short-term perspectives presented in this report, this publication also includes a longer-term view on the evolution of the sustainable aviation fuels (SAF) market, written in collaboration with HSBC. This is presented in Appendix 1. Last year’s report highlighted “cautious optimism” regarding expectations for progress towards aviation decarbonization in 2025. The survey carried out during 2025 for this year’s report captured perspectives on whether those optimistic expectations were met. Despite headwinds, the results show that the progress achieved was, on average, in line with the initial expectations of industry stakeholders. Some actors highlighted the steady increase in SAF usage and the development of policy support underpinning it, including commitments to progressive SAF mandates in a multitude of countries and markets. On the other hand, less- satisfied respondents voiced discontentment with SAF’s high premiums and slow production growth.1.1 Overall progress in 2025 Nearly half of respondents to the Forum’s survey of senior aviation executives at the end of 2025 and beginning of 2026 expressed optimism that the aviation sector will make meaningful progress towards decarbonization over the next year. This marks a slight decrease in confidence compared to last year. The same results indicate that around one-third of respondents feel pessimistic about decarbonization’s progress this year, with the remainder expressing a neutral view (see Figure 1). While an optimistic view still prevails among industry leaders, there is an emerging consensus across the stakeholders consulted for this report that a more pragmatic approach to decarbonization is now needed. So, while the targets and ambitions have not budged, the path to achieve them may require modifying to address roadblocks, both decarbonization-specific and systemic. Latest industry analysis validates this “ambitious pragmatism”: achieving net-zero aviation by 2050 is still attainable, but the sector needs to pull together to maintain the momentum.21.2 Expectations for 2026 Nearly half of respondents to the Forum’s survey of senior aviation executives expressed optimism that the sector will make meaningful progress towards decarbonization over the next year. Global Aviation Sustainability Outlook 2026 9