Universal Aviation, the ground support division of Universal Weather and Aviation, has opened Universal Aviation Turkey, based at Ataturk airport in Istanbul and providing supervisory ground support for business aircraft at all airports across Turkey. Universal Aviation Turkey is a partnership with locally-based aviation company Kaan Air.

The decision to expand into Turkey was based on increasing customer demand for operations into Turkey and better service levels on the ground than has previously been available.

“Turkey, and Istanbul in particular, is a rapidly growing business aviation market with good infrastructure and potential for growth, but it also continues to be a challenging destination for our customers due to service levels, parking availability and operating restrictions,” explains Universal chairman Greg Evans. “Our clients told us they need faster response times and higher quality service on the ground, more transparency in pricing and quicker parking confirmations in Turkey. By directly providing ground supervision for our clients throughout Turkey, with our own professionals trained to our global standards, we are better positioned to reduce the inherent operating risks and ensure the success of their missions.”

With the opening of the new Istanbul International airport in 2019, all commercial airline traffic is now diverted from Ataturk.

“We decided to base our Turkey headquarters in Instanbul because it is now the best airport option for business aviation operators in the region,” continues Evans. “With no commercial traffic, arrivals, departures and taxi times are significantly faster. Ataturk is also much more conveniently located to Istanbul's city centre and provides greater operational flexibility in terms of both parking, slots, scheduled maintenance options and customer preference to the airport's general aviation terminal.”

Helicopter transport from plane side is supported by Kaan Air. The company will fly to destinations in town, and vice versa, or point to point for business meetings, avoiding the very challenging Istanbul traffic.

“Looking ahead, 2020 is going to be an exciting year of growth for Universal and our Universal Aviation network, as we continue to expand to high-risk, high-stress locations,” adds Evans.