Universal Aviation Mexico, a joint venture between Avemex, and Universal Weather and Aviation, Inc. to provide ground support throughout Mexico, officially broke ground on a new, 50,000 square-foot hangar on the property of their FBO at Toluca International Airport (MMTO).

The new $3.5m hangar, not including the cost of the land, which was previously acquired, is slated for completion in June 2018 and will be the fifth for Universal Aviation Mexico, the most of any private aviation company at Toluca.

With the addition of the new hangar, Universal Aviation Mexico will increase its total number of hangarage space to almost 170,000 square feet, including a 16,640 square-foot maintenance hangar. The construction of the hangar comes two years after a multi-million dollar renovation of Universal Aviation Mexico’s 16,384 square-foot state-of-the-art FBO at Toluca.

“Over the past two years, we’ve made significant investments in Toluca in order to ensure the ongoing success of our clients’ missions,” said Greg Evans, Chairman, Universal. “Available parking and hangarage at Toluca is extremely limited and has been a challenge for some time - especially for transient, non-based operators. We are building this hangar to address this need for our clients at this critically-significant, high-traffic destination. And at an airport known during summer for its big thunderstorms with hail and its winter weather with frost and subzero C temperatures, our clients can be confident that their aircraft are secure in this newest hangar that is big enough to safely accommodate even the largest of aircraft.”

Universal Aviation's new Mexico hangar.

The additional ramp space will allow Universal Aviation Mexico to support simultaneous arrival and departure operations while still facilitating movements of aircraft in and out of the hangars, reducing the possibility of potential delays due to saturation. Included with the new construction, Universal Aviation Mexico will be adding 32,000 square feet built-in office space and 17,200 square feet of storage space, predominantly for use by locally-based operators. Universal Aviation’s ramp also offers three direct taxiway access points, the most of any FBO at Toluca.

“Demand for hangar and office space for operators based at Toluca continues to outpace availability all across the airport,” said Agustin Lanzagorta, President of Grupo Avemex. “Some FBOs at the airport are taking advantage of this by positioning aircraft very closely to one another to accommodate additional aircraft—which of course creates potential safety issues. We’ve been unwilling to make these same compromises, so sometimes we simply have to turn potential new tenants away. This investment allows us to support the growing number of aircraft at Toluca while still adhering to our stringent safety standards that Universal Aviation is known, recognized and valued for.”

Universal Aviation is the ground support division of Universal Weather and Aviation, Inc. and has more than 50 locations in 20+ countries, with five locations operated under Universal Aviation Mexico. Its location in Toluca is also one of the longest-running FBOs at the airport, first established in the early 1990s. Universal Aviation Mexico also offers handling services in more than 50 airports in Mexico.

Avemex manages a mixed fleet of 24 aircraft and helicopters. Avemex’s service division, Centro de Servicio Avemex, provides support services including: maintenance (corrective, scheduled and preventive), airframe services, engine and APU services, and avionics maintenance scheduling.