UrBC, Yekaterinburg, December 26, 2018. Ural Airlines’ Vladivostok-Sapporo flight got operated for the first time on December 21, 2018, the air carrier’s press service reports. ‘Passengers got treated to some Japanese chocolates at Knevichi Airport. Upon their arrival in Sapporo, they were also greeted with a warm welcome and souvenirs supplied by Ural Airlines and Hokkaido Prefecture. The greeting ceremony was attended by Hokkaido Land, Transport, & Infrastructure Ministry officials and representatives of Chitose Airport,’ the press service says. ‘We operated our first flight to Sapporo

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, December 26, 2018. Holders of the Ural Bank for Reconstruction & Development’s 120-day-grace-period credit cards have spent RUB 4.5 billion using these cards since the beginning of the year, the bank’s press service reports. ‘Women proved to be the more active card users and made 10.8 million transactions (amounting to RUB 2.5 billion all in all) throughout this year. Yet, even though men used their credit cards less often, they generally spent a greater amount of money per transaction,’ the press service says. According to the bank’s big data findings, the credit

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, December 26, 2018. Ural Airlines operated their first flight from Moscow Region’s Zhukovsky Airport to Kazakhstan’s capital Almaty and then the Almaty-Zhukovsky one on December 24, 2018. According to the air carrier’s press service, there were a number of special celebrations both on the way to Almaty and back. ‘Passengers flying to Kazakhstan’s largest city had a welcome ceremony and could have some tea and cake at the airport terminal; the first passenger to check in for the flight also received some souvenirs from the airport,’ the press service says. Zhukovsky-Almaty

UrBC, Moscow, December 26, 2018. There will be significantly fewer tour operators and travel agents on the Russian market next year as a result of the natural selection process that took off five years ago, Interfax refers to Russia’s Tour Operators Association’s (ATOR) Executive Director Maya Lomidze as stating. ‘The year 2019 will be the one of structural change. The number of key market players will decrease greatly, both in the tour operators’ segment and the travel agents’ one. The natural selection that began in 2014 will reach its peak next year and will change the market for good.

UrBC, Moscow, December 26, 2018. Sverdlovsk Region proved Russia’s No.5 federal constituency in terms of how many new credit cards got issued by local banks this year; the rating features forty Russian constituencies all in all. According to the National Credit History Bureau, Sverdlovsk Region-based banks issued 50.1% more credit cards in November 2018 than in November 2017 (more than 38,000 cards altogether). Moscow, Moscow Region, and Krasnoyarsk Territory are at the top of the rating; their increase in the number of newly issued cards reached 49.2%, 60.7%, and 30.7%, respectively.