The decision to expand into Turkey was based on increasing customer demand for operations into Turkey and better service levels on the ground that what 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,” said Greg Evans, Chairman, Universal®. “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 Airport (LTFM) in 2019, all commercial airline traffic is now diverted from LTBA.
“We decided to base our Turkey headquarters at LTBA because it is now the best airport option for business aviation operators in Istanbul,” said Evans. “With no commercial traffic, arrivals, departure, and taxi times are significantly faster. LTBA is also much more conveniently located to Istanbul’s city center, and provides greater operational flexibility in terms of both parking, slots, scheduled maintenance options, and customer preference to the airport’s general aviation terminal.”
Universal Aviation in coordination with Ferda Yildiz and Kaan Air is also able to offer helicopter transport from plane side to many 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,” said Evans.
The addition of Universal Aviation Turkey extends the Universal Aviation network to 18 locations in the Europe, Middle East and Africa Region. Universal Aviation also has 17 locations in the Asia-Pacific region and 19 in Latin America for 50+ locations across 25+ countries.
For more information on Istanbul ops, read our Istanbul Destination Guide blog authored by Universal Aviation Turkey Operations Manager, Gokmen Sendag.
For more information on this location, visit Universal Aviation Turkey online.
Flight departments partner with Universal for one reason – they need their international missions to execute smoothly and successfully. And that’s what we help operators do best. With us, you’ll have access to the industry’s best expertise, global resources, information, and technologies to amplify your flight department’s capabilities, and we’ll work tirelessly with you to eliminate sources of risk and friction from your missions. That’s why we’re trusted to manage more global trip legs per year than anyone else and have been the industry leader in supporting international missions for over 65 years. By partnering with us and adding our capabilities to yours, you will be able to achieve more with your flight department than ever before.
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