International air cargo players in India are flying off in different directions, or so it seems.

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Over the past few months, while some large carriers have added capacity, many smaller ones have reduced or even completely cut their cargo services into India.

Taiwanese carrier Eva Air has suspended its full freighter services out of Mumbai, while China Airlines has moved out of Delhi.

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Middle East-based carrier Etihad Cargo has quit Bangalore and Mumbai, according to their schedules, and Cargolux of the Duchy of Luxembourg has cut its Chennai service.

Emirates SkyCargo, however, is increasing the belly capacity on its passenger aircraft. Cathay Pacific Cargo too has seen an increase in volumes and is adding capacity into India.

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Why the mixed signals?

With slowing international trade, experts say, there has been a fall in outbound freight to major markets such as the US from India.

Certain commodities like garments, machinery spares, express cargo, have been hit harder than most.

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Keki Patel, cargo manager-India and Nepal, Emirates SkyCargo, feels that this has forced some of the freighter carriers to re-route their capacity to other, more promising markets, while some have taken the route of rationalising frequencies.

A senior official at a carrier, which has suspended operations from India, on condition of anonymity said the decision was taken as it was not viable in a lean market such as this one. "Although there has been an increase in exports in value terms, the quantum is not much," he added.

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Even carriers who are bullish on India like Emirates SkyCargo said that while volumes have grown, it has been at a slower rate than in recent years. There has been an overall growth of 4% in the out-bound cargo to major markets - Australia, Europe, Africa and the Middle East - except the US, which has seen a volume drop of 20-25%. The in-bound cargo volumes have grown by 10-15%, across sectors.

Mark Martin, senior advisor at consultancy firm KPMG, said, "Air cargo is directly proportional to trends in world trade. There has been a slowdown in manufacturing both in India and around the world. For the likes of Eva Air, manufacturing output dipping means a reduction in cargo. Along with this, higher fuel prices have meant higher operating expenditure."

Ashish Kapur, cargo manager, Cathay Pacific, feels the impact of the economic downturn might be yet to come through fully.

According to him, there could be a significant dent in the current growth pattern due to the slowdown. This is despite Cathay Pacific seeing a strong growth in volumes, which he attributes to extensive expansion in India. Kapur added, "We're keen to continue our scheduled expansion and maximise our optimisation in accordance with the demand in India."

Emirates SkyCargo, which too is expanding its presence in the country, has increased its belly capacity tonnage to 2,000 tonnes per week between India and its Dubai hub.

But the company has discontinued its Delhi and Mumbai services. It now operates a freighter through Chennai once a week.

According to experts, the shift from freighters to sharing belly space on passenger airplanes is a factor of softening demand, both in passenger and cargo space.

Kapil Kaul, chief executive officer, of aviation firm CAPA, said, "Passenger load factors are softening in India and so, more space is available in the belly to carry cargo. It's all a demand and supply game."

Some, like Niteen Gupte, chief executive officer of domestic air cargo start-up Quikjet, favour the full freighter model as "belly space has no time definite service, whereas a full freighter is time definite for various products".