With shipments of materials to restore Middle Eastern energy infrastructure destroyed by the war between the United States and Iran increasing, the global air cargo industry is enjoying a boom. This is because more corporations are choosing air over sea to quickly transport machinery and materials needed to repair pipelines. On top of that, the frenzy to build artificial intelligence (AI) data centers is boosting air freight demand for high-priced equipment such as servers and graphics processing units (GPUs).
On the 6th (local time), the Financial Times (FT) reported that Singapore's SATS, the world's largest air cargo handler, said revenue has increased recently as U.S. energy corporations are sending more machinery and materials to the Middle East.
SATS is an air cargo and ground handling company headquartered at Singapore Changi Airport and was originally a subsidiary of Singapore Airlines before being spun off in 2009. In 2023, it acquired Worldwide Flight Services (WFS), an air cargo and ground handling company based in Paris, France, for €1.3 billion (about 2.03 trillion won), becoming the world's largest air cargo handler.
According to SATS, demand for air cargo from Houston and Dallas to the Middle East has surged. U.S. energy corporations are hurrying to send the machinery and materials needed to repair and maintain Middle Eastern pipelines and other facilities damaged by Iran's bombardment.
Kerry Mok, SATS chief executive officer (CEO), said, "In recent months, demand for charter cargo departing from the United States has increased significantly, which is a direct effect of the Middle East war." At its peak, SATS used as many as 50 charter freighters a week.
In this way, the war has led more corporations to choose air over sea transport. Air freight carries a higher expense than sea freight but can greatly shorten delivery times. With U.S. tariff policy and logistics disruptions in the Middle East increasing uncertainty in global supply chains, demand for air freight has risen for cargo that requires fast delivery.
In fact, SATS's revenue from April to June rose 11.3% from a year earlier. Over the same period, revenue in its largest market, the Americas, increased 15.4%. SATS said demand for high-value cargo requiring rapid transport lifted results. However, due to flight disruptions and higher energy-related expenses, net profit rose 6% to 75 million Singapore dollars (about 80 billion won).
Another pillar lifting air cargo demand is AI data centers. As global technology corporations pour massive funds into building AI infrastructure, the need to quickly transport key equipment such as server racks, storage devices, and GPUs is growing. Because data centers must be built on fixed timelines, delays in shipping core equipment inevitably disrupt overall construction schedules.
Mok said that because data center construction hinges on meeting schedules, all core equipment, including server racks, storage devices, and GPUs, is being shipped by air. He said, "AI infrastructure investment is a big tailwind for us." According to FT, global technology corporations are expected to invest $7 trillion (about 9,422 trillion won) in data centers by 2030.
In particular, the increased air cargo demand is also flowing to airlines. FT reported that Korean Air Lines(003490) and Japan Airlines (JAL) are seeing cargo revenue rise on the back of demand to ship AI chips and data center equipment.
Industry observers say that as restoration of Middle Eastern energy infrastructure continues and AI infrastructure investment expands, air cargo demand will likely remain solid for the time being. In particular, as high value-added cargo that requires fast transport—such as restoration machinery and materials or AI-related equipment—grows, attention is on whether the air freight market's growth will continue.