Ahead of what is projected to be a busy Mediterranean summer travel season, Universal Aviation is expanding its presence in the Mediterranean with the opening of Universal Aviation Greece Mykonos.

Universal Aviation Greece Mykonos officially commenced operations on 7 May, with local dedicated Universal Aviation staff directly supporting operators coming to the islands.

“Mykonos is one of the most popular summer destinations in the Mediterranean, and this is going to be a peak season like we've never seen,” says Universal Aviation Greece MD Yiannis Arkoulis. “Historically, Mykonos can be a challenging destination due to the difficulty in obtaining slots and then coordinating parking for the aircraft off the island. “With the additional challenges due to COVID, new operating protocols and the pent-up demand this peak season will bring, we thought it was important to add our own dedicated people on the island to assist with those challenges. We will now be able to better support our customers with the ability to react rapidly on-site when opportunities like open slots become available, as well as coordinating heli-transfers, yacht rendezvous, VIP concierge requests and specialised on/off airport logistics.”

Universal Aviation Greece Mykonos is the network's second in Greece, joining its 24/7 Athens headquarters, which has been in operation since 1993 and provides supervisory ground support to all of Greece.

With its expansion to Mykonos, Universal Aviation is the only handler with its own people on Mykonos entirely dedicated to business aviation and with a global network backing it up, including an ops centre capable of coordinating full coverage throughout Greece.

“From our headquarters in Athens, we coordinate with our agents all over Greece to provide parking solutions, match slots and permits between Mykonos and other Greek airports used for aircraft positioning. This ensures we are providing a seamless solution for missions both to Mykonos and elsewhere in Greece, reducing the risk of errors from handoffs,” says Dimitra Kiriakopoulou, director of ops and customer care.