I’m far from an expert, but there is a global shortage of natural rubber which has pushed the commodity price up over 70% in the last year. Given it’s importance to the automotive industry, if it’s needed urgently in the USA then it needs to be shipped by air.
Supply chains across the entire automotive industry have been hugely disrupted since the start of the pandemic, exacerbated by vast peaks and troughs in demand across different parts of the world. For airlines like BA and TUI, it’s been valuable revenue at a time when fleets would be more or less grounded.
Some meat to the bone:
https://www.bbc.com/future/article/2...running-out-of
https://www.reuters.com/article/asia...-idUSL4N2HE0BD