Visitors look at an Emirates airline's Airbus A380 at the Dubai Airshow.

AFP/Dubai

Airport security concerns came into focus at the Dubai Airshow, which wrapped up on Thursday, after suspicions mounted that a bomb brought down a Russian airliner in Egypt's Sinai Peninsula.

Sales were quiet at the biennial fair, with the fast-rising Gulf carriers that had turned the gathering into a regular venue for mega-deals, saying they had enough on order.

So there was plenty of time to reflect on what easyJet CEO Carolyn McCall told the BBC this week "kept airline chief executives awake at night" - the fear of a bomb being carried or stowed on board a flight.

What focused their attention was the crash two weeks ago of a Russian passenger jet over the Sinai after it took off from the Red Sea resort, killing all 224 people on board.

The Islamic State group claimed, without providing details, that it had downed the Metrojet Airbus A-321. Britain, the US and international investigators suspect it was a bomb that exploded just under 24 minutes after it took off.

British Foreign Minister Philip Hammond charged that some countries have a problem with training and motivating security staff.

"You don't need a sophisticated capability to get a small bomb, and that's all you need to bring down an aircraft, a small bomb with a straightforward timer.

"Sadly there are many, many people who can do that. The issue is about getting it air side in an airport that is supposed to be secure," he warned.

Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed al-Maktoum, CEO of Dubai's carrier Emirates, told AFP that security at Dubai International, the world's largest in terms of international passengers handled, is of "utmost priority" for authorities in the Gulf city state.

He said the airline's "security is in constant contact with other airports, in case there is any information ... they need to look at that could be related to security".

Emirates President Tim Clark described the suspected bombing of the Russian plane as a "game changer", pledging to reassess security procedures at several destinations.

"We're reviewing our procedures in terms of security and ramp handling and access to our aircraft," Clark was cited by Bloomberg as saying.

"We have 22 cities in Africa, multiple cities in west Asia - India, Pakistan, et cetera - all of these will have to be reviewed to make sure we're as safe as we can be.

"There are many airports in the world where if people wanted to do some pretty bad things they could do them," he said.

Emirates, along with Abu Dhabi's Etihad and Qatar Airways, have established their hubs as major stops for transcontinental travel.

'Neighbourhood in turmoil'

For now, both Emirates and Qatar Airways have changed their routes to avoid flying over Sinai following the airliner crash.

Concerns over airport security, mainly in the Middle East, are "well placed", according to Addison Schonland, an industry expert with US-based consultancy AirInsight.

"The neighbourhood is in turmoil. The Russian tragedy is a symptom of what's to come. Commercial aviation is a soft target with fabulous upside in terms of attracting attention and causing mayhem," he told AFP.

He said securing luggage, both check-in and carry-on, was imperative for carriers.

"While we don't know how the next attempt will manifest itself, anything that goes on an aircraft must be thoroughly vetted," he said.

As this might lead to even more tedious check-in procedures, Peter Kirk, head of security at the UK Civil Aviation Authority, stressed the need to educate passengers about the importance of security measures.

"Ideally we would want them to comply with security features because they believe and understand how those procedures make them and their fellow passengers safer, not just because they are rather tiresome measures that they feel they have to put up with," he told a conference at the airshow.