Our Story
A meteorologist’s startup vision became the leading innovator in helping flight departments execute international missions smoothly and successfully.
Join us on our journey from aviation weather forecasting to 360° mission management.
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1959: The Birth of a Vision
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Tom Evans, ex-Air Force meteorologist, has an innovative idea: weather forecasting specific for business aviation. He founds a weather station company at Love Field in Dallas, TX, USA under the name Southwest Flight Forecast and Industrial Weather Service, Inc.
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Early 1960s: Spreading Our Wings
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Tom opens an additional location in Houston, Texas, which would later become his new headquarters. He rebrands the company to Universal Weather and Aviation, Inc., and our iconic plane and radar logo is introduced, which remains the inspiration behind the Universal® logo today.
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Late 1960s: Trip Support is Born
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We expand beyond weather to flight planning and trip coordination services – something no one else was doing at the time.
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1970s: Going Global
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As operating business aircraft internationally becomes more popular, we begin building a worldwide network of trusted ground handlers. We invest in opening our own handling offices in Mexico, the UK, and Spain.
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1981: Fueling an Industry
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We pioneer the first contract fuel program for business aviation – creating a service segment that is a staple of flying today.
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1985: Growing with Our Customers
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Demand for trip support services accelerates. Universal HQ moves to a larger office outside Hobby Airport, where it lives for the next 20 years. We continue to expand our capabilities and capacity in trip support, ground handling, fuel and other support services.
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1990s: Technology Accelerates
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Rapid changes in technology are evolving the industry. We evolve too. We expand into product development and launch new products for the business aviation industry like online fight planning and digital weather.
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2000s: Expansion of Our FBO Network
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We rapidly expand our global footprint of owned FBOs and ground support locations. The Universal Aviation® FBO brand is born. The network continues to expand with new ground support, FBO and GAT locations to this day.
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2010s: From Logistics to Consultant
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Regulations impacting business aviation rapidly increase and change. Staying on top of changing information, being able to interpret it, knowing what’s coming, and helping operators pressure test what best for them becomes critical to operating success. We evolve beyond just logistics coordination to mission consultancy.
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2011: Integrating Inflight Catering
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Recognizing that the inflight catering experience is critical to the overall success of any mission and that service variability among providers was high, we acquire Air Chef Holdings, which is later renamed Air Culinaire Worldwide. We integrated its global catering network with our trip support service for seamless orchestration between trips and catering.
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Early-2020s: Navigating New Challenges
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In a rapidly changing world, we adapt and innovate. We become the industry's go-to resource for restrictions during the pandemic, developing real-time solutions to help operators navigate complex and ever-changing global regulations. We introduce new digital tools to streamline mission management and enhance operational efficiency. Our focus on sustainability grows as we develop solutions for carbon credits and global emissions reporting to help our clients meet evolving environmental standards.
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Today: Redefining Mission Management
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We’re looking at what it takes for missions to be successful by looking beyond the notional trip and bulletproofing the three critical components of every mission: Readiness, Feasibility, and Execution. By blending high-touch expertise with advanced technology, we’re empowering international operators to maximize their operating flexibility and successfully complete missions with less friction than they ever have before.
Our Promise
In navigating a complex world, we are committed to accomplishing our shared purpose – the success of your mission. We empower our people to share your sense of urgency and exhaust our global resources to reduce your operating risks and stress, enabling you to keep the guarantees you make to your organization.