June 27, 2013. Ural Airlines is now converting to Amadeus, a modern online check-in system that will first be introduced for some of the flights that depart from Yekaterinburg and will later on be launched for all of the company’s other flights, the airline’s press service reports. Very soon, Ural Airlines Yekaterinburg passengers will be able to enjoy the benefits of Amadeus online check-in system. The check-in process will get faster and easier and will thus save one’s time, while the updated user interface will make every check-in step effortless. The boarding card will be new, too: all

June 27, 2013. Pipe Metallurgical Company (TMK) is going to pay a dividend of 2.194bn RUR for the year 2012. According to the company’s press service, this was the decision taken at the annual general meeting in Moscow. Besides, the meeting resulted in the approval of the annual report and of the annual accounting report for 2012.

June 27, 2013. The net profit of Yekaterinburg Electrical Grid Company came to 388.13m RUR in 2012. Most of this money (372.14m RUR) will be directed to investment, 15.98m RUR will be used to pay dividend. These decisions were made at the annual general meeting, where a new BOD comprising 9 members was also selected, the company’s press service reports. The AGM was held by Yekaterinburg Electrical Grid Company on June 21, 2013; the points on the agenda covered issues relating to profit distribution, the payment of dividends, selecting the new Board of Directors and the audit team, and

June 27, 2013. According to a recent market research called the Russian Freights Market: Current State of Affairs and Forecasts, slightly less than a half of the country’s fleet of freight cars was made up of gondola cars in January 2013, and out of these gondola cars, more than 25% were past their lifespan limits, RBC reports. Then, 24% of the freight cars pool was made up of tankers and over 16% was made up of platforms and covered trucks. As of January 2013, First Freight Company was Russia’s largest freight cars operator: it is using slightly more than 15% of the country’s fleet of

June 27, 2013. There will be fewer non-industrial companies featured at the International Exhibition Innoprom 2013, Formica State Corporation’s PR Director Anton Attrashkin said at a press conference in Yekaterinburg. However, Forimica’s DG Maxim Zverkov explained that the international exhibition was still open for all kinds of exhibitors. ‘Anyone who is willing to do so can take part in the exhibition. The thing is, non-industrial companies drop out naturally because the event does not involve their target audience, so there soon will be no medical enterprises at Innoprom,’ Zverkov said.

June 26, 2013. Three B-11 bulldozers made by ChTZ-Uraltrac (a member of Uralvagonzavod Scientific & Production Corporation) arrived in the village of Ust-Neira in the east of Yakutia. According to the corporation’s press service, it took the bulldozers two and a half months to travel from Chelyabinsk to Oimyakon District through Magadan, where the company’s local service center is located. ‘Poisk Prospectors’ Crew selected a new make of the tractor with the final reduction gear and hydromechanical transmission. What is more, the machines have the Webasto pre-heater and double glazing of

June 26, 2013. ChTPZ Group intends to take part in the Job Counseling Day during the Innoprom 2013 exhibition, the company’s press service says. This year, the group is going to present its business, society, and army cooperation project at the exhibition; this will be a part of a multi-faceted new-generation employee training program. More than 50 volunteers, including people from the Group’s White Metallurgy division, ChTPZ Educational Center students, and the first alumni of the Future of White Metallurgy Program who have served their term in the army, will take part in the event.

June 26, 2013. Pipe Metallurgical Company (TMK) and Gazprom Neft signed a joint scientific and technological cooperation program for 2013-2015. The program aims to provide the oil company with highly competitive, home-produced pipe products with enhanced technological and economic properties, TMK press service reports. TMK has been cooperating with Gazprom Neft for a long time by supplying pipe casing, pipeline components, and oil well tubing for oil production and transportation, including pipes with premium thread joints. The two parties’ further cooperation that was reflected in the

June 26, 2013. In 2012, the average salary in Yekaterinburg came to over 33,000 RUR a month, which was 22% better than in Russia on average, Head of Yekaterinburg Administration Alexander Yakob said at Yekaterinburg Duma meeting recently. He explained that the unemployment rate registered in Yekaterinburg in late 2012 – 0.49% - was the lowest within the last 18 years, while the large and medium enterprises industrial production index stood at 115%, which was 11% better than in Russia on average and 4% better than in Sverdlovsk Region on average. ‘The Urals’ capital is traditionally No.1 among

June 26, 2013. UC RUSAL is going to reduce aluminum production at Bogoslovsky smelter down to 25,000 tons a year, with only Section 6 in operation. The company expects to produce 300,000 tons less of aluminum altogether this year than last year, which has to do with unfavorable market opportunities, RUSAL First Deputy DG Vladislav Soloviev said in his interview to Prime Agency. ‘The matters are quite settled with Bogoslovsky - we will buy Bogoslovsky heat & power station and will only leave Section 6 in operation, which will produce about 25,000 tons of metal,’ the top manager replied to

June 25, 2013. The start-up and commissioning of two new MaXXturn 65 SMY Emco Maier program-controlled turning and machining units is about to be completed at Uralvagonzavod Corporation’s head plant. The Austria-manufactured units were purchased within the framework of the National Special Purpose Defense Sector Development Program for 2013-2020 and cost more than 34m RUR to get, Uralvagonzavod Scientific & Production Corporation’s press service reports. Under the preliminary estimates, the two new units could replace at least ten old single-spindle machines. The advantages of the new

June 25, 2013. Head of Uralvagonzavod Scientific & Production Corporation Oleg Sienko said he was willing to support India in expanding and upgrading its railway network. This was said on the first day of Saint Petersburg International Economic Forum during the Russia-India Business Conference attended by Russia’s Industry & Trade Minister Denis Manturov and India’s Minister for Industry & Trade Anand Sharma, the corporation’s press service says. It was reported that the two countries’ cooperation was a partnership on preferential terms, based on close and multi-faceted trade and

June 25, 2013. Lyudinovsky Locomotive Plant (LTZ, a member of Sinara Transport Machines) got a compliance certificate from the Federal Railway Transport Certification Register. Its TEM14 loco’s design documentation was classed O1, which means the company can now produce a pilot batch of locos. After the first stage of TEM14 loco certification had been completed, LTZ got down to getting the certificate allowing it to make a pilot batch, Sinara Group’s PR Center says. The two-diesel TEM14 locomotive was designed by Sinara Transport Machines Innovational Development Center by the order of

June 25, 2013. On June 20, 2013, a solemn opening ceremony of the internal protective pipe coating department took place at TMK NefteGasService Nizhnevartovsk (TMK NGS-Nizhnevartovsk, a member of Pipe Metallurgical Company (TMK)), the company’s press service reports. The event was attended by representatives of oil-producing companies – LUKoil, Rosneft, and Tatneft, and those of oil-related services companies and local oil production market operators. The traditional red ribbon at the new department was cut by TMK Deputy Director-General for premium products and services and TMK

June 25, 2013. Ural Airlines reduced the price of a direct flight from Nizhniy Novgorod to Prague and back. Passengers can now buy a ticket for only 9,589 RUR less than two days before the flight on any day between June 21 and September 15, 2013, the airline’s press officer reports. Starting June 24, 2013, Ural Airlines passengers can also save money on their Prague-bound trips by booking early. A ticket for the flight from Nizhniy Novgorod to Prague and back will only cost 10,621 RUR (exchange rate good as of June 21) if booked more than two months in advance. If you book more than 30 but

June 24, 2013. ChTZ-Uraltrac (a member of Uralvagonzavod Scientific & Production Corporation) will complete its large-scale delivery of vehicles to Tatneft. The corporation’s press service reports that the oil company will receive 14 B10M and B12 bulldozers, 11 TR20 pipe-laying vehicles, and 6 units meant for making trenches. ‘A half of the assembled tractors have hydro- mechanical transmission, which makes operating them easier. What is more, they are fitted with the Webasto starting pre-heater, a heating system inside the pit, and a special system for preventing the caterpillar treads

June 24, 2013. A Russia-India business conference took place on the first day of Saint Petersburg International Economic Forum; the event was attended by Russia’s Minster for Industry & Trade Denis Manturov and his Indian counterpart Anand Sharma. It was said that the two countries’ cooperation was seen as a preferential strategic partnership based on close and multi-faceted trade and economic and investment relations. The conference participants spoke about further expansion of their bilateral cooperation relating to both systemic collaboration issues and the implementation of specific

June 11, 2013. The World Steel Association carried its annual rating of the world’s largest steel-making companies recently. The WSA’s Top Steel-Producing Companies 2012 list numbers 40 enterprises, and Magnitogorsk Iron & Steel Works (MMK), with its 13m tons of steel produced last year (given MMK Group’s output on the whole), was given the 26th position in the rating. This was as many as four positions better than a year earlier. All in all, the Top40 list features four Russian manufacturers, and Russia itself, with its 70m tons of steel produced last year, came 5th in the rating of the

June 12, 2013. Magnitogorsk Metal Goods Plant (MMK-METIZ) won in the All-Russian 100 Best Organizations & Enterprises in the Country 2012 Contest in the Best Industrial Enterprise category. The contest coordinator - the Innovations & Development International Forum – singled MMK-METIZ out of hundreds of other contestants, thus admitting the enterprise’s success in the industrial production field in 2012. The contest is meant to promote the Russian organizations and enterprises’ development, to enhance the efficiency and quality of their work, and to facilitate the professional

June 24, 2013. President and Supervisory Board Chairman of the Russian Sberbank German Gref commented on the positive development dynamics in the way Chelyabinsk Tube Rolling Plant (ChTPZ) was paying off its loan; this was the message addressed by the top official of the bank that heads the syndicate of ChTPZ creditors to Russia 24 reporters in the course of Saint Petersburg Economic Forum held on June 20-22. ‘This is a very complicated case of restructuring, the amount of debt is quite large, so it took the syndicate a long time to coordinate this scheme, it took many months, in fact. At the