UrBC, Yekaterinburg, April 26, 2016. Several hundred people will most probably lose their jobs in the second quarter of the year, Sverdlovsk Region Legislative Assembly deputy Andrei Alshevskikh refers to the local labor and employment department as stating. The data provided by the department indicate that Yekaterinburg’s Koltsovo Airport is planning to make 107 out of its 1,826 employees redundant by June 20, 2016. Also, 113 out of Serov Ferrous Alloys Plant’s 2,417 workers will have to be let go, as will 173 people working at Vesta Management Company in Severnouralsk and 63 employees out

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, April 25, 2016. Omsktransmash (a member enterprise of Ural Vagon Zavod Corporation) is taking part in the national job counseling event called The No Turnstile Week for the second time this year, the company press service reports. Over three hundred companies from forty different constituencies, including Ural Vagon Zavod, took part in the event last October. The idea is to familiarize schoolchildren, students, and their parents with the ways local businesses operate on their premises. Omsktransmash coordinated its No Turnstile Week in three stages: a job counseling

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, April 25, 2016. Sinara Development (a member enterprise of Sinara Group), which is currently acting as the general construction for the reconstruction of Yekaterinburg Central Stadium in time for the World Cup 2018, started working on the internal part of the roof of the building, the Group’s press service reports. The first 35-ton part of the internal roofing support beam (made of highly durable steel) has already been mounted. The section is located right above the northern spectator stands, at the height of 35 meters. A special 220-ton-strong lifting crane had to be

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, April 25, 2016. The telecommunications provider MegaFon is now offering its customers a special wake-up call service, which is expected to unite those who need to get up on time with those who are willing to wake a stranger up with a phone call, the company press service reports. ‘This is bound to result in loads of fun. Some people find it hard waking up in the mornings, and some people love sharing their positive vibes and talking to people they haven’t formally met. Interestingly enough, in Russia, the service is considerably more popular with women rather then men.

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, April 25, 2016. Sun’s Children, the Sverdlovsk Region-based non-profit organization uniting over 270 families with children diagnosed with Down syndrome, joined the Ural Bank for Reconstruction & Development’s charity project, the bank’s press service reports. As part of its Parrot Program, the UBRD is planning to coordinate a series of workshops this May that will be fully tailored to meet the children’s special needs. ‘Some changes were made to our charity project Children Believe in Miracles eighteen months ago when it was decided that the bank would not only help

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, April 25, 2016. Ural Airlines are launching a flight from Saint Petersburg to Batumi this spring, the air carrier’s press service reports. The flight will be available twice a week starting from May 16, 2016. This is going to be one of the first new flights to be operated from Pulkovo Airport in the spring and summer of 2016. The airline also introduced a Saint Petersburg-Tbilisi flight last year, which is available every Friday (or Thursday, starting from May 26). ‘Georgia, this hospitable country, will be your love at first sight. A pleasant climate, a warm sea, the

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, April 22, 2016. Prices dropped by 10% on Yekaterinburg existing home market against February 2015 and by 2.4% in the first three months of this year, with the average asking price at 69,028 RUR per m2 on April 1, 2016, Ural Real Estate Chamber’s analysts report. Rather predictably, homes in the older apartment buildings lose their value the fastest: the average asking price of the Brezhnev era apartments declined by 14.5% in the last fourteen months, that of the Khrushchev era apartments dropped by 12.9%, and that of apartments in the nine-storey apartment buildings put

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, April 22, 2016. The telecommunications provider MegaFon now offers its business customers portable GSM base stations, the company press service reports. The new service will make it possible for the local businesses to set up a mobile connection and Internet access point anywhere within just a couple of hours. ‘The station was first presented at the international Innoprom 2011 Exhibition. This technical solution is one way to introduce connection during rescue operations, for example, or to reinforce the signal and improve coverage in crowded places, and it left

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, April 22, 2016. Ural Airlines added this year’s first purchase, Airbus A319 liner, to its fleet of vehicles, the air carrier’s press service reports. This is the seventh plane of this make the company has bought so far. Airbus A319 arrived in Yekaterinburg from Ireland; the aircraft has 126 economy class seats and 8 business class ones. The plane will be used for operating both international and domestic flights, with the first one, U6 274, to be operated from Yekaterinburg to Moscow today. Ural Airlines currently use thirty-six Airbus liners. The airline embarked on a

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, April 22, 2016. Ural Vagon Zavod Corporation is hosting the Bulat Okudzhava Theater Days Festival in Nizhniy Tagil in celebration of the company’s head plant’s upcoming 80th anniversary. The festival will feature a play called We, the Undersigned. The well-known Russian actors Andrei Kuzichev, Anna Bolshova, and Anatoly Kot and actors from Nizhniy Tagil Drama Theater are starring. The play is directed by the Russian actor and film/play director and Russia’s Honored Artist Vladimir Skvortsov. The play production team comprises winners of the Golden Mask Prize art director

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, April 22, 2016. Ural Vagon Zavod and its daughter enterprise UVZ Logistic presented their produce at the international logistics exhibition TransRussia in Moscow, the corporation’s press service reports. Over three hundred companies from twenty-seven different countries are coming to the exhibition this year; the exponents are the transportation and logistics sector’s major players such as rolling stock manufacturers, infrastructure businesses, and freight forwarders. Both the corporation and its daughter company are taking part in the event for the third time this year.

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, April 21, 2016. Children of Sinara Pipe Plant’s employees and kids from local schools organized a flash mob to celebrate the Pipe Metallurgical Company’s 15th anniversary, both companies being a part of one holding. ‘The event took place at the square in front of the plant. A banner with drawings from the Company Through Children’s Eyes Contest was placed next to the entrance, and the town brass band created quite a special atmosphere with its cheerful music. Activists from A.I. Brizhan Youth Council presented the locals with company souvenirs. A PA system was used to

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, April 21, 2016. The advertising agency Voskhod and HYPE Production produced, with MegaFon Ural’s support, a new social service announcement about We Are Together Charity Foundation, the telecommunications provider’s press service reports. ‘Our company has been supporting this charity for seven years now; the fund has proven a reliable, conscientious, well-targeted partner for people who are in keen need of support. We have implemented a number of projects for children together; for one, our special number 000777 where MegaFon Ural subscribers can always direct money meant

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, April 21, 2016. The Ural Bank for Reconstruction & Development (UBRD) opened a new branch for private customers in Krasnouralsk, Sverdlovsk Region, the bank’s press service reports. The office is to be managed by head of the bank’s Kushvinsky branch Olga Tregubova, who says Krasnouralsk locals really needed a bank outlet downtown. ‘Customers would often call the bank hotline asking about the possibility of introducing a branch in the town. The new sales point is now in care of deputy head of Krasnouralsky branch Natalya Nazarova,’ Tregubova says. Krasnouralsk-based

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, April 21, 2016. Seversky Pipe Plant (a member enterprise of Pipe Metallurgical Company/TMK) carried out performance tests for two new EMAG coupling sleeve machines, TMK press service reports. The machines were installed at the sleeve production department as part of the equipment upgrade and retooling program. These modern appliances are very precise and twice as productive as their earlier-generation counterparts. They also mean the plant can now produce more premium quality goods. The department workers are currently busy making and assembling the devices meant for

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, April 21, 2016. Kamensk-Uralsky Foundry Plant/KULZ (a member enterprise of Ural Vagon Zavod Corporation) coordinated the 5th research-to-practice conference where the plant’s workers presented the newly developed equipment and technologies they would like to see in their production departments, the company press service reports. Reports were both of technical and social nature: the presenters spoke about new quality control methods, equipment maintenance, and personnel motivation mechanisms, with very lively discussions at some points. ‘Reports were very different and

UrBC, Moscow, April 20, 2016. The overall amount of money Russian employers owed to their workers in wages and salaries rose by 35.4% last month compared with the beginning of March and came to 4.47bn RUR altogether, Rosstat reports. 98.5% of the sum (3.72bn RUR) were arrears in wages occasioned by businesses lacking their own funds. 58m RUR were left unpaid as government funds failed to get transferred on time. According to Rosstat, 35% of the debt amount rest with the processing enterprises, 23% with the construction businesses, 25% with the transport sector, 5% with the fossil development

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, April 20, 2016. Ural Airlines introduced a new flight from Tomsk to Moscow at 6:30 AM on April 16, the air carrier’s press service reports. ‘Tomsk residents went to the Russian capital on a comfortable A320 liner (both business and economy class options available). The passengers were presented with nice gifts and company souvenirs, and there was a cake at the airport to celebrate the occasion,’ the press service says. The new scheduled flight will now be operated on a daily basis. Once in Moscow, passengers will be able to use connecting flights to other cities in Russia

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, April 20, 2016. Turners from Omsktransmash (a member enterprise of Ural Vagon Zavod Corporation) won the first and second prizes in the local round of the national professional skills contest, the company press service reports. The contest comprised two stages, that is, theory and practice. For the second part, contestants were to create or improve a computer program for an NC mill. This task gave the judges a chance to assess the participants’ skills and qualifications, their compliance with production technologies and labor protection requirements, and their knowledge

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, April 20, 2016. ChTPZ Group is taking part in the 16th International Oil & Gas Equipment & Technologies Exhibition, the company press service reports. The Group is presenting its White Well Project (currently unique to the Russian oil and gas industry) and the latest equipment meant for artificial oil lift. White Well, a joint project of the Group’s pipe-manufacturing and O&G member enterprises, is targeted at increasing oil production output at the more difficult wells through ensuring longer time between repair; this can be done through careful selection of