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.
Struggling to replace the declining aftermarket revenue from a shrinking Fokker fleet, Fokker Services (FS) will cut about 20% of its staff as part of a restructuring effort aimed at reversing the unit’s declining revenue trend. After showing no growth in 2012, FS — the aftermarket arm of Fokker Technologies — saw revenue decline 8% in 2013 to €202 million ($299 million), the unit reported Feb. 3. While the company is rolling out non-Fokker support services, the new work isn’t coming quickly enough to keep revenues from sliding.
United Airlines’s plan to significantly reduce its Cleveland Hopkins International Airport (CLE) hub stems from a bigger-picture initiative to shave $2 billion in annual costs by 2018 as well as a more pressing need to wring more efficiency out of its regional network.
Continued solid airline financial returns could keep the current boom in cabin retrofit demand going, feedback from interiors specialist B/E Aerospace (BEA) suggests. “We had really strong retrofit sales in the quarter,” BEA CEO Amin Khoury told analysts on a Jan. 30 earnings call, adding that the recent uptick hasn’t slowed the pace of new inquiries. “We are having significant ongoing discussions with our customers about retrofit programs in the future,” Khoury says. “I would say there is a step-up in activity.”
