While the media fixates on tariffs, inflation, and geopolitical risks, industry insiders are seeing a very different picture. Airline profits are up, demand is strong, and aircraft backlogs are stretching eight years into the future.
But underneath the optimism is something more nuanced: a market defined by high-cost inputs, a scramble for qualified labor, and a reshuffling of what counts as “value” in M&A.
In this episode of The Aerospace Executive Podcast, M&A specialist Bill Alderman returns for his quarterly check-in on the state of the aerospace and defense sector.
We unpack the surprising resilience of commercial aviation, why job shops are suddenly hot properties, and the real reasons behind rising multiples in the MRO and manufacturing space.
Key Topics Covered:
- Why Job Shops Are Suddenly a Seller’s Market
- The Real Tariff Story
- MRO’s Growth May Have Peaked
- Delta’s Blowout Quarter and What It Signals
- Good Accounting is Deal Fuel Defense
- Two Speeds, One Future
Guest Bio
William H. Alderman (Bill) is the Founding Partner of Alderman & Company. Bill is an M&A specialist in the middle market of the aerospace and defense industry with over $2 billion in mergers and acquisition-related transactions to his name. Prior to founding Alderman & Company in 2001, Bill worked for 15 years on Wall Street and in the Aerospace & Defense Industry, principally on M&A transactions in the middle market. His employers included BT Securities, Fieldstone, and General Electric. Bill is a Securities Principal registered with the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (“FINRA”) and has four securities industry licenses (Series 7, 24, 63, and 65). Bill is a commercial pilot and owns and operates a Cirrus SR22.