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.
In its January 2013 aviation finance overview, consultancy PwC noted that The Cape Town Convention's core purpose of protecting aircraft financiers when airlines go bust “remains untested.” What a difference a few deals, a post-bankruptcy rift, and few quarters make.
The European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) late last week ordered inspections of wing leading-edge lift device components on 46 early-build Airbus A380s to correct an issue introduced on the production line. EASA says “a deficient assembly process” could cause small gaps to form between bolt heads and bushings installed on droop nose hinge arm forks. Gaps can transfer stress to the affected fork, causing fatigue damage and possibly breaking them, EASA explains. The directive is based on a July 9 Airbus service bulletin.
American Airlines and US Airways have won their first battle against the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ), getting a tentative start date of Nov. 25 for the trial that would hear DOJ’s challenge against the carriers’ proposed merger. U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly granted the airlines’ desire for an expedited schedule, ruling that DOJ’s request for an early March 2014 start date was not reasonable. “March 3, I think, is too far off,” the judge said in a hearing on the issue. “It needs to be a tighter, expedited schedule.”
