Passenger demand in April rose at its slowest rate since January 2015, weighed by the March attacks in Brussels and highlighting safety as one of the main challenges facing airline executives meeting this week. While airlines are enjoying a boost from lower oil prices, weakening economies and falling ticket prices are also posing problems for a sector which operates on thin profit margins. IATA's latest air passenger figures showed demand rose by 4.6% in April, following the suicide bomb attacks in Brussels that killed 16 people at the end of March. How to improve security following other attacks on popular travel destinations is likely to feature high on the agenda at the annual IATA meeting from June 1 to June 3 in Dublin. Airlines are also under pressure to reduce carbon dioxide emissions and CEOs will discuss proposals by ICAO for a global market-based measure to offset emissions. The industry supports a global scheme, rather than a patchwork across the world, IATA Director General Tony Tyler said ahead of the meeting. A possible British exit from the EU and the US elections are also areas of concern, with European carriers already warning a "Brexit" could dampen travel demand. While airlines' cost bases benefited from the lower price of fuel, oil has been creeping back up to under USD$50 per barrel. "It's still set reasonably fair for the airlines' financial performance, but the bigger worry is the fragility of the global economy," IATA chief economist Brian Pearce said. Air fares fell around 4% in early 2016 and are expected to decline further, according to IATA. "There's quite a lot of capacity growth despite the weaker pricing environment, especially from the European legacy carriers, and I would have expected to see more discipline on that," aviation consultant John Strickland said.<br/>
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A military court in the Somali capital on Monday gave life terms to two men convicted of masterminding the bombing in February of an airliner which made an emergency landing with a gaping hole in the fuselage. The explosion happened aboard Daallo Airlines Airbus A321 about 15 minutes after the jet, with 75 passengers, took off from Mogadishu airport. Abdiweli Mohamed Maow, a former senior security officer at the Mogadishu airport, was convicted of preparing the laptop computer used to bomb the plane. Areys Hashi Abdi was convicted in absentia. The attack, which was claimed by the Islamic extremist group al-Shabab, killed one passenger, Abdullahi Abdisalam Borle, who was thought to be the suspected suicide bomber. A body believed to be Borle's was found in a town north of Mogadishu. Somalia's military court also convicted eight other people, including a woman, for their roles in planning the bombing and sentenced them to between six months and four years in jail. Six other suspects were acquitted and ordered freed from custody.<br/>
Travellers who had braced for long lines and long waits were instead moving through most US airports fairly quickly Monday, as the busy Memorial Day travel weekend drew to close. "Honestly it wasn't too bad," said Kendra Morehead of Wooster, Ohio, who flew from Detroit to Denver for a conference. "I got to the airport an hour and a half early, but security only took like 15 minutes." However, the airlines weren't ready to say "mission accomplished" yet, as it's just the beginning of the busy summer travel season. "Things have been going pretty well so far this weekend and we are working hard to make sure that we have no repeat of what we saw in Chicago," said American Airlines spokesman Ross Feinstein, referring to Chicago O'Hare International Airport, which had some of the worst screening problems in recent weeks. The TSA began deploying extra canine teams to the busiest airports months ago. The dogs can screen large groups of passengers for explosives, eliminating the need to remove shoes and laptops, TSA spokesman Mike England said last week. The extra dogs were concentrated at the nation's largest airports, but they weren't used for all screenings. Many travelers still had to observe the usual procedures. England said the extra dogs would remain at security checkpoints well beyond the Memorial Day weekend.<br/>
Moscow's fourth international airport Zhukovsky officially opened on Monday, but public transport problems and the economic recession put a damper on celebrations. Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev opened the Zhukovsky airport about 40 kilometres southeast of Moscow city centre, Russian television reported. The new airport has a capacity of two million passengers per year, Rostec, the Russian state conglomerate that controls the airport's operating company Ramport Aero, said in a statement. The airport will run around 20 flights per week by two passenger airlines from ex-Soviet Central Asia - Air Kyrgyzstan and SCAT Airlines from Kazakhstan. It will also house two Russian freight carriers: Sky Gates Airlines and an Aviastar-TU. The airport, built with an initial investment of US$136,000, was originally planned to reduce the buildup of passengers at the three existing airports: Domodedovo, Sheremetyevo and Vnukovo, following years of strong growth in passenger traffic. Russia has since plunged into recession due to falling oil prices and Western sanctions over its role in the conflict in Ukraine, affecting people's purchasing power and leading to air travel falling last year.<br/>
Boeing is considering putting a larger engine on the 737 in an effort to blunt the success of the Airbus A321neo that outsells it by four to one. The plane maker would offer a modified version of the larger and more powerful LEAP-1A engine used on Airbus's A321neo rather than the LEAP-1B used on the 737 MAX 9, they said. That would enable Boeing to add range while stretching the 178-seat jet to fit 12 or more extra passengers and gain a capacity advantage over the 185-seat A321neo, the sources said. Boeing disputes its rival's claims about the strength of demand in this niche where Airbus has the lead. But leapfrogging the A321neo with more seats would hedge Boeing's position as many airlines opt for bigger planes. However, the new derivative version of the 737 MAX 9, nicknamed 737 MAX 10, would bring significant headaches. Adding the larger engine would mean raising and possibly repositioning the landing gear and re-certifying parts, costing an estimated USD$1b-$2b, according to industry experts.<br/>