Urals Power Engineering Center made 4.96m RUR worth of profit in 2011, which was actually 13.7 times less than in 2010, the company’s official report states. At the same time, the company’s revenues increased by 28% and came to 2.13bn RUR.

It was proposed that the duration of Innoprom exhibition in Yekaterinburg be prolonged from four to five days. This suggestion was voiced at the meeting dedicated to the upcoming event that was chaired by Governor Alexander Misharin. ‘It is important to give as many locals and visitors to the region a chance to visit the exhibition. In fact, the decision was actually taken as early as last year at the end of that summer’s exhibition, when many people said they wished the exhibition could last longer,’ the Governor said. This Ural International Exhibition/Forum for Industry & Innovations

Some FIFA representatives and members of the World Cup 2018 coordination committee are planning to visit Yekaterinburg soon. The visit has been scheduled for May 14, 2012 and will probably be the last one before the officials decide whether Yekaterinburg is going to be among the hosting cities for the championship in 2018. First Deputy Head of Yekaterinburg Administration Sergey Shvindt announced at a special meeting on World Cup 2018 preparations that visitors to the Urals’ capital would take a look at Koltsovo Airport, Central Stadium, and Historic Park where a fans’ festival would be held.

Ural Airlines acquired its own cockpit mock-up to train its pilots to operate Airbus 320 planes, the company’s Deputy DG Alexei Fomin told the reporters. ‘The airline is launching its training center in April. We bought this Airbus 320 mock-up right off the conveyor belt, so it’s new and unused,’ he said at a press conference in Nizhniy Novgorod. Fomin explained that prior to the opening of this center, the company’s pilots had to undergo training on the outside foreign airlines’ equipment. ‘Now they can train at home and save money on all the travel expenses and business trips,’ he added.

The pipe-welding department of VSMPO-Avisma Corporation had to stop operating temporarily in early March 2012, Interfax refers to the company as reporting. ‘At the beginning of March, after our order for Korea had been completed, all the jobs within the department were halted. The workers were offered temporary positions at the corporation’s other departments. At the moment, the order portfolio of the pipe-welding department is non-existent. The fact that the department has been left with no orders is sad but not tragic,’ the company reports. The halt is expected to last until the end of