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.
Airbus and Boeing, working with vendors and regulatory authorities to get final cockpit door upgrade kits together and approved, hoped to have retrofit kits available to operators by July 1 at the latest.
Swiss International Airlines will likely end up with an equity stake in SR Technics (SRT) when the MRO giant is sold off by SAirGroup, Swiss CEO Andre Dose said. SAirGroup in mid-June was reviewing five bids for SRT. Dose would not discuss specifics, but he confirmed that each bidder had talked to Swiss about equity participation and the airline's recently struck deal with SRT. ``After all, we are their biggest customer,'' he said. SRT in late March won a deal to do maintenance on Swiss' 52 mainline aircraft, including Airbus A320s, A330s and A340s.
FAA, responding to concerns expressed by a group of American Airlines Airbus A300-600 pilots, said in late April that the visual inspections recommended by both Airbus and Boeing for checking composite vertical fins are sufficient for detecting damage that could compromise a plane's airworthiness. FAA's position, outlined in a letter signed by certification director John Hickey, is that composite structures are ``designed and certified with an appropriate, intended inspection method.''
