Ural Airlines’ first scheduled Chelyabinsk-Moscow-Chelyabinsk flight was operated on December 5, 2011. The fact that there were a lot of passengers even on this ‘maiden voyage’ proves that the service will be popular with the residents of Chelyabinsk: over 50% of seats were taken, Ural Airlines’ press service reports. Ural Airlines will now be operating scheduled flights from Chelyabinsk to Moscow and back in accordance with the following timetable: U6 610 Moscow-Chelyabinsk: departure time is 10:05 PM, arrival time is 02:15 AM (every day except for Saturday); U6 609 Chelyabinsk-Moscow:

25% plus one share of the Yekaterinburg-based Grand Avenue Hotel are now put up to auction, Vecherny Yekaterinburg reports. The number of shares offered for privatization comes to 416,834.

The customs and the police officers of Khanty-Mansiysky Autonomous Region Yugra conducted five inspections of retail stores in Surgut, Nefteyugansk, and Kogalym in November 2011 in order to prevent sales of pirated products. As a result, 125 counterfeit items were confiscated, the spokesperson for Ural Customs Administration reports. The confiscated items comprised ‘Adidas’ sportswear and footwear as well as ‘Hugo Boss’ colognes. All the suspicious-looking items were withdrawn for an expert examination. The results of this examination will determine whether administrative or criminal action

The international chemical and pharmaceutical concern Bayer AG is interested in setting up a joint scientific research venture with some Russian partners, with one of Skolkovo’s first residents Ural Pharmaceutical Center being the most likely candidate. This was something discussed at the meeting of Vice Premier and Head of Sverdlovsk Region Government Administration Pavel Korolev with the German concern’s representatives. One of Bayer representatives said their technology experts are already working at Ural Pharmaceutical Cluster’s facilities; they can look into the production and come up

The Urals-based banks are coming up with the preliminary reports for their performance in the year 2011. According to Bank Koltso Urala’s Retail Business Department experts, the bank’s term deposit portfolio currently exceeds 11bn RUR, the bank’s press service reports. This figure has actually increased by over 3bn RUR since the beginning of the year, while the number of customers’ deposits rose by a few times; the private individuals’ term deposits portfolio went up by 5.98%, or 680m RUR, in November alone. Up to four hundred customers open deposits at the bank every day.

The auction aimed at selling the assets of Avto-Land that took place on November 29, 2011 had to be declared invalid because no bids had been submitted. Among the assets put up to auction were tires, spare parts for Jaguar, Ford, Mazda, and Volvo makes, and tools, materials, and equipment for car repair. The opening bid for the lot was set at 8.82m RUR. The applications for taking part in the new auction can be submitted starting December 5, 2011.

The French chain store Auchan is planning to open its classic hypermarkets in six Russian cities in 2012, Auchan-Russia’s Director-General Jean-Pierre Germaine told reporters. According to Kommersant, Yekaterinburg is not on the list. ‘We are planning to open six classic hypermarkets and we also keep working on our current projects that haven’t been completed yet. An average Auchan City store reaches about 150,000 locals,’ Germaine said. He explained that stores would be opened in Nizhniy Novgorod, Ryazan, Tyumen, Ulyanovsk, Volgograd, and Rostov-on-Don.

Kommersant came up with a rating of Russian banks that shows an increase in these banks’ financial performance figures compared with the beginning of the year. The newspaper’s research took into account the data provided by 953 Russian banks. The Urals-based VUZ Bank was featured among the country’s top 100 banks in terms of loans volume and among the top 200 banks in terms of deposit portfolio volume and undistributed profit volume. In terms of retail loans, the bank was given the 88th position in the rating. The bank’s private individuals lending portfolio came to 5.118bn RUR on October 1,

According to head of Sverdlovsk Region Clinical Hospital 1 Intensive Care Department Alexander Levit, Governor of Sverdlovsk Region’s stay in the intensive care unit is over: all the necessary measures needed to stabilize his health have been taken. No life-threatening complications have been diagnosed, and he is actually improving. ‘The Governor’s further convalescence depends on the organization of the effective rehabilitation period. Among the options that medical men offered, Alexander Misharin’s relatives chose one of specialized trauma clinics in Germany. This establishment is a global

The awarding ceremony of the Delovoy Kvartal magazine’s Person of the Year Prize took place in Yekaterinburg recently. The Main Industrialist of the Year Prize went to Sinara Group’s Director-General Mikhail Khodorovsky. SKB-Bank’s Chairman of the Supervisory Board Vladimir Pukhov was declared the Banker of the Year, and Sinara Development’s Director-General Timur Ufimtsev was declared the Main Developer of the Year, Sinara Group’s PR Department reports. Mikhail Khodorovsky said Yekaterinburg made a very impressive leap forward over the last few years, which was possible, among other factors,

The 30,000 workers of Sberbank that are to be made redundant soon will actually not be fired, they will be transferred to other positions, head of Russia’s largest bank German Gref told Komsomolskaya Pravda in an interview on Friday, RIA Novosti reports. ‘Considerably fewer workers are needed now due to increased productivity of labor. However, we have no intention of firing them. This people’s potential is to be evaluated, and new jobs will be offered for them. Our business keeps expanding every day,’ he said. Gref actually said earlier that 30,000 people would be laid off following the

Alexander Petrov is leaving his office as the Director-General of the cosmetics manufacturer Concern Kalina. The company’s BOD decided to have his authority terminated at 11:59 PM on December 6, 2011. The Board of Directors also approved of the terms of the labor contract with the new Director-General and the wording of the order regarding the employment of the new DG. The name of the new executive has not been announced yet. The only thing that is certain is that he has not worked at Kalina before.

Russia’s Federal Antimonopoly Service considered the application of Unilever Rus regarding the purchase of a 100% voting shareholding in Concern Kalina that was submitted on October 21, 2011. The application was submitted in accordance with Article 28 of the Competition Protection Act. The Service came to the following conclusion: ‘The data and the documents submitted alongside the application meet the requirements set by Article 32 (part 5) of the Competition Protection Act. Based on Article 33 (part2, paragraph 1) of the Competition Protection Act, Russia’s Federal Antimonopoly Service

‘Yekaterinburg-Expo is a difficult project to complete. No one has ever put up such big buildings here before. All the calculations have been done. The budget is finalized. The customer has all the money. The calculations related to most of the contractors are also finished. So some routine technical work is under way. A lot of public attention is always paid to such large-scale projects, so some smooth team work is needed here,’ Governor of Sverdlovsk Region Alexander Misharin said in his interview to Oblastnaya Gazeta. ‘Sadly, there occurred a clash between the contractors and the customer

The modernization committee under the President of the Russian Federation might look into the issues related to the development of Sverdlovsk Region’s aluminum production facilities as soon as in two or three months, Governor Alexander Misharin told the reporters after a meeting with Krasnoturyinsk locals and plant workers. ‘Two to three months are needed to consider all the issues, prepare the documentation, and make decisions. However, most of these decisions have already been made,’ the Governor said when asked how soon the federal authorities might settle the issue of the local aluminum

Ural Airlines keeps on expanding its destinations network in China. Starting February 4, the air carrier will be operating a direct flight to one of China’s largest economic centers and tourist attractions Harbin. Flights will be operated every Saturday. The cheapest tickets are available for ?489 (plus the fees). Now Ural Airlines has been operating convenient flights from Yekaterinburg to China for a few years now. The airline offers a direct flight from Yekaterinburg to Beijing three times a week, and a new flight from Yekaterinburg to Guangzhou (with a stop in Novosibirsk) will be

Russian President Dmitri Medvedev suggested that the modernization committee should look into all the issues related to the development of Sverdlovsk Region’s aluminum-producing facilities soon. Until this committee meets, no electrolysis production facilities will be shut down at UC RUSAL’s Bogoslovsky smelter (the liquidation was announced by RUSAL a while ago). Such was the news that the region’s Governor Alexander Misharin voiced at a meeting with Krasnoturyinsk locals and plant workers on December 1. ‘We have the President’s decision to have the region’s entire aluminum production system

Russia’s Federal Antimonopoly Service (FAS) declared that METRO Cash & Carry created some discriminatory conditions for some of its fish and seafood suppliers. Such actions constitute a violation of Article 13 (part 1, paragraph 1) of the Federal Act on the Bases of State Regulation of Trading Activity in the Russian Federation. The FAS committee came to the conclusion that making the cost of services METRO offers to its food suppliers in terms of product and sales promotion dependent on the turnover of goods as stated by the supply contract is discriminatory in nature. Thus the food

Deputy Head of Sverdlovsk Region Government and Minister for Industry & Science Alexander Petrov spoke about the potential investors of AMUR car factory during his business visit to Novouralsk. Among the criteria that matter to the government as far as the potential investors are concerned is their willingness to set up a full automobile production cycle on the premises of Novouralsk plant, to launch a separate facility for the manufacturing of car parts, and to create a scientific and technological center for advanced car-making technologies. ‘The priority will be given to those car

Rosaviation first issued a permission for Transaero to operate chartered flights to three Italian cities and then called it off, the air carrier claims. The airline has already signed agreements with tour operators and is now threatening to take the case to court. Rosaviation announced last night that the agency had never sent a permission to operate chartered flights to Italy to the air carrier, RBC daily reports. According to the airline, Rosaviation committee approved of their application for the operation of chartered flights from Moscow to Rome on October 28. However, as soon as November