Story ID: 
Universal Begins Ground Handling in Beijing
By: Curt Epstein
Caption: Universal Weather & Aviation has signed an agreement with China's CJet that will give it a ground handling presence at Beijing Capital Airport.
Word Count: 232
Under a recently signed agreement that took effect yesterday, Universal Weather and Aviation’s Universal Aviation China is now providing on-ramp ground handling at China Capital Jet (CJet) Beijing, which operates the lone FBO at Beijing Capital Airport. Universal has had a presence in China for the past two decades and provides private aviation ground handling at Shanghai Pudong International and Guangzhou Baiyun International Airports.

"The combination of our local expertise, award-winning ground handling service, and safety standards, with CJet’s experience and commitment to improving business aviation infrastructure, will help reduce our clients’ risk and stress when operating to Beijing,” said Universal chairman Greg Evans. “We look forward to developing training and information-sharing programs with CJet that will further advance and ease the business aviation operating environment throughout China.”

CJet, the only authorized private aviation ground service and customer passage provider in the greater metropolitan Beijing area, signed a deal in 2015 with FBO chain Million Air, which saw the facility rebranded as Million Air Beijing. That agreement had seen the location move toward adopting Western FBO service and operating procedures over the past several years, with staff members brought to Million Air’s Houston headquarters for training. It is unclear what this latest deal means for that alliance. When asked by AIN, Million Air replied only that it remains in negotiations with its Chinese counterparts.