Specialty managing general agent (MGA) HIVE Underwriters has unveiled an aviation reinsurance division, extending the independent firm's multi-class growth strategy into one of the specialty market's most closely watched segments. Underwriting is scheduled to begin in October 2026.
The new class will be led by senior underwriters Scott Bradbury and Joshua Down, who will join HIVE once they complete their contractual obligations with their current employer.
Bradbury arrives with a background as a head of aviation reinsurance underwriting, having built and managed portfolios across the global market, while Down, who joins as reinsurance underwriter, has 15 years of experience underwriting and broking aviation reinsurance.
The addition complements HIVE's existing aviation, space, marine, and political violence and terrorism teams, reinforcing its standing as a multi-class specialty MGA and Lloyd's coverholder.
The launch caps a busy stretch of class additions for a firm that has spent the past two years broadening its London market footprint. HIVE was founded in 2017 by chief executive Bruce Carman, a Lloyd's veteran whose career spans more than three decades of aviation and war underwriting, and operates today as an independent, employee-owned Chartered Insurance Underwriting Agent writing on behalf of Lloyd's syndicates and company markets.
Its capacity panel has grown alongside its product set, with Allianz Commercial added in late 2023, general aviation in April 2024, space in late 2025, and a marine line earlier this year.
Speaking on an industry podcast in 2024, Carman said HIVE was then writing around US$140 million in gross written premium across roughly 20 underwriters, figures that predate the firm's recent expansion.
Aviation insurance covers airlines, operators, and manufacturers directly against hull damage and third-party liability, whereas aviation reinsurance sits one step behind, absorbing portions of those exposures from primary carriers through excess of loss treaties or retrocession arrangements that spread catastrophic losses no single insurer could comfortably carry.
The launch arrives as the market navigates a recalibration tied to the development of 2025 losses. Howden Re has projected low single-digit rate increases on excess of loss programs at the January 1, 2026 renewals, with more pronounced hardening expected in retrocession layers.
Loss activity influencing the cycle includes the American Airlines incident in January 2025, the Air India crash in June 2025, the UPS event in November 2025, and the late-2024 Jeju Air crash. The US airline segment is seeing sharper hardening, while general aviation continued to soften through 2025 and the standalone hull war market eased after earlier increases linked to the Russia-Ukraine war.
HIVE said the move reflects continued investment in underwriting talent alongside data and analytics capabilities intended to support knowledge-led underwriting in complex risk environments.
Carman said the launch follows the firm's approach of building around underwriting expertise. "We are building HIVE around exceptional underwriting talent, and the launch of Aviation Reinsurance is a natural extension of that strategy," he said.
He described the division as a meaningful addition to the company's multi-class platform as it continues to expand, adding that Bradbury and Down bring technical depth along with a relationship-driven approach that fits the firm's operating model.
"Our focus is on creating an environment where experienced underwriters can do their best work, supported by strong data, aligned capacity and a highly collaborative culture," Carman said.
