Airlines around the world are reporting a surge in business as tourists pass travel again. Carriers’ net profit last year was $32.4 billion, an increase of 18% from the previous year, while passengers reached $4.8 billion.
In Southeast Asia, Vietnam Airlines, Thai Airways and Indonesian airlines reported double-digit revenue growth last year. But the most impressive performance is not from the operator, but a company that keeps pace.
Singapore’s SATS offers a range of services, including food preparation, air cargo handling and passenger services, tripled its revenue in 2024, lifting the company to 93 this year, a growth of 134 locations. Southeast Asia 500. SATS’s revenue in 2024 is now $3.8 billion. SATS is the largest climber on this year’s list, excluding new immigrants.
Most of SATS’ revenue growth comes after the completion of Global Flight Services (WFS), a global air cargo logistics provider. SAT bought the company for 1.3 billion euros ($1.5 billion in current exchange rates) in a deal announced in early 2023.
SATS’ acquisition of WFS now enables Asian-centric companies to become more international players. WFS is the world’s largest cargo handling company and is a major player in Europe and America.
The combined SATS-WFS has more than 215 locations worldwide, covering more than half of the global air cargo volume.
SATS’s history can be traced back to the early days of Singapore Commercial Airlines, starting with the ground division of Malaya Airlines. The airline was later divided into Singapore Airlines (SIA) and Malaysia Airlines Systems. SIA then established the ground processing business in 1972, becoming a separate business.
Now, SATS is the main provider of air cargo, ground treatment and transportation services for Changi Airport, the largest civilian international airport in Singapore. Since then, SATS has expanded its footprint across Asia and established joint ventures in markets such as mainland China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, the Philippines and Indonesia.
In recent finance Report In the quarter ended March 2025, SAT reported a year-on-year revenue growth of 13% to Singapore’s $5.8 billion ($4.53 billion in current exchange rates), due to the increase in the volume of business and revenue contribution of its expanded network.
“Our cargo volumes have been better than IATA’s global growth benchmark, which shows our ability to leverage an expanded network to secure new contracts,” SATS said in its annual report.
company Target By the end of the fiscal year 2029, revenue reached $8 billion ($6.2 billion), thanks to a larger network, the growth in Asia-Pacific passenger volume and Singapore’s role as an aviation hub.
