EVA Air cargo demand nears pandemic-era highs
Taiwan's EVA Air is seeing a boom in air freight driven by AI server shipments, good news for the airline and for Taiwan's tech exporters.
- Cargo demand and shipping rates have stayed high since spring, close to the levels seen during the pandemic boom.
- The driver is simple: as long as Taiwan's AI industry keeps shipping servers, air freight stays strong.
- Passenger business is holding up too, with fourth-quarter bookings running ahead of last year.
- EVA signed a green shipping deal with freight forwarder AIT Worldwide, using sustainable jet fuel from Formosa Petrochemical to cut Microsoft's cloud-hardware shipping emissions.
- That fuel costs three to five times regular jet fuel, and Microsoft is paying to absorb the difference.
Outlook: Freight should stay hot while AI server demand runs, though the airline is watching whether fallout from the US-Iran conflict keeps hurting some travel routes.