Universal Aviation, the worldwide ground support division of Universal Weather and Aviation, has expanded its presence in Greece with the opening of Universal Aviation Greece Paros on 16 May, 2022. Local dedicated Universal Aviation staff will directly support operators coming to the island.

“Based on booking and trip inquiries, we forecast business aviation traffic to Greece to exceed even 2021's record-setting volumes,” says senior vice president Adolfo Aragon. “We're aggressively expanding throughout the Mediterranean to meet this pent up demand and to enhance our customers' ground experience at congested and challenging destinations like Paros.”

This is the network's third location in Greece, joining its Mykonos location which opened in 2021, and its 24/7 Athens headquarters, which has been in operation since 1993 and provides supervisory ground support to all of Greece.

“Traffic to Paros has been growing steadily for years but since the pandemic it has surged to new heights, with pent up travel demand making demand for slots, parking and services even more challenging,” says UA Greece managing Yiannis Arkoulis. “We expanded to Paros based on customer demand and to enhance the experience of our customers travelling to the island.”

Universal Aviation is the only handler on the island of Paros with its own people entirely dedicated to business aviation and with a global network backing it up, including a 24/7 ops centre capable of coordinating full coverage throughout Greece. The dedicated agents have been trained at high traffic airports in Athens and Mykonos and are adept at coordinating third party services such as ground transfers, catering and hotel accommodations.

“While not an AOE, Paros accepts flights arriving from the EU and Schengen region,” says director, ops and customer care Dimitra Kiriakopoulou. “We can assist foreign-based operators with clearing through any of our EU Universal Aviation locations, and our dedicated ops centre is capable of combining permits for tech stops for customs or fuel, meaning fewer hand offs and fewer opportunities for error.”