Sean Broderick covers aviation safety, MRO, and the hardware side of the airline business from Aviation Week Network's Washington, D.C. office.
Broderick's aviation career started in 1991, working for Airbus in Toulouse. His industry experience includes four years with an aviation consultancy, where he helped launch a U.S. Part 121 carrier; 12 years with the American Association of Airport Executives, where he served as editor of Airport Magazine; and 20 years in full- and part-time roles with Aviation Week writing primarily about safety and the aftermarket.
Broderick was named the 2020 Aerospace Journalist of the Year by the Aerospace Media Awards. He also shared in a 2020 Neal Award for Best News Coverage with Aviation Week Network colleagues. Broderick and Aviation Week colleague John Croft shared the 2015 Flight Safety International Cecil A. Brownlow Publication Award recognizing "significant contributions by journalists to aviation safety awareness."
He graduated from James Madison University with a B.S. in Communications ('91) and earned an M.S. in Integrated Marketing Communications ('13) from West Virginia University.
Demand for most current-technology aircraft and engine types remains solid, but a sluggish global economy and stagnant traffic growth mean lease rates aren’t expected to climb anytime soon, leasing executives report. “Rental levels are steady for current-generation passenger aircraft,” Aircastle CEO Ron Wainshal said on an Aug. 6 analyst call. “Lease market conditions are good. But absent a pickup in global GDP growth, we don’t see rents going much higher over the next year or so.”
Virgin America, well past a major growth phase and in the midst of a lull in aircraft deliveries thanks to a restructuring of outstanding orders, is “now poised to produce meaningful profitability,” President and CEO David Cush says. On Aug. 7 the airline reported its first-ever second-quarter profit, $8.8 million in net income, compared with a $31.8 million loss in the same quarter of 2012. Its year-to-date profit at the halfway point—$12.9 million—is also a first.
