Yekaterinburg Customs transferred 12.9 billion RUR to the Russian budget in 2010, which was 1.1 billion RUR greater than in the year 2009. The turnover of goods within the Customs area went up by 22.2%; the freight turnover rose by 8.2%, with 11.5% more of cargo manifests processed by the customs officials. In addition, the number of agents involved in foreign economic activity increased by 5% and reached 1,814 legal entities, Ural Customs Administration’s press officer reports. Now with the lifting of border restrictions between Russia and Kazakhstan the foreign trade turnover went down by

Dexter has cancelled its flights’ arrival at Yekaterinburg’s Koltsovo Airport yet again. For one, the airline called off flight 9612 from Perm that was to have arrived at 8:20 AM. Flight 9628 from Tyumen is also delayed; the arrival time was originally set for noon. What is more, flight 9627 to Tyumen, with the original departure time set for 9:35 AM, was called off. The air carrier cancelled a few flights at the end of 2010. Koltsovo Airport then explained the flights had been called off due to lack of passengers.

CIT Finance Investment Bank is withdrawing from the Russian provinces at the moment. It has been decided by the company’s BOD that the bank’s offices will be closed throughout the first quarter of 2011 in the cities of Belgorod, Chelyabinsk, Izhevsk, Kaliningrad, Kirov, Krasnodar, Magnitogorsk, Omsk, Ryazan, Samara, Saratov, Taganrog, Tver, Tyumen, and Volgograd. In the end, representations in Moscow and Saint Petersburg apart, CIT Finance will run outlets in seven more cities: Novosibirsk, Yekaterinburg, Ufa, Kazan, Nizhniy Novgorod, Rostov-on-Don, and Surgut.

The American company Guess that cancelled its cooperation agreement with the Russian distributor LVB (part of JamilCo) last year is now planning to introduce its own retail stores in Russia in a speedy way. It has been reported to Vedomosti that Guess intends to launch ten stores in major shopping malls in Moscow, Saint Petersburg, Rostov-on-Don, Yekaterinburg, and Kazan this year. The new stores will be opened by the company’s Russian representation LLC SuperStar under a variety of brands: Guess Jeans, Guess by Marciano, Guess Accessories, Guess Footwear, and Guess Kids. Guess worked with

Quite a few travel agents have decided by now that their tourists will go to Egypt in accordance with the schedule. Meanwhile, the tourists are split into three groups: the first group is going ahead with their plans; the second one won’t go and is now entitled to a full refund; the last one is trading these tours in for some other destinations like Thailand of the UAE with a bit of extra money to pay,’ Director of Inna-Tour Inna Averyanova told UrBC. In the meantime, Russia’s Ministry for Sports, Tourism and Youth Policies and Rostourism announced that selling tours to Egypt under current

Avianova won’t be operating any flights from Saint Petersburg to Yekaterinburg between March 8, 2011 and October 30, 2011, Interfax reports. It was earlier announced on the carrier’s website that Avianova gave up on the idea of making Saint Petersburg-based Pulkovo Airport its second HQ since the airport was unable to offer the airline the financial terms that would be appealing enough. This is why, Avianova reports, the company had to reconsider its plans relating to keeping its current flights to Saint Petersburg or introducing some new ones.

‘We are currently considering expanding our MEGA store in Yekaterinburg, but no final decisions have been made yet. This is why it’s too early just now to speak of specific deadlines or plans,’ CEO MEGA Yekaterinburg Lilia Nenasheva told UrBC. Now the company’s expansion plans were announced by Vice Mayor of Yekaterinburg Viktor Konteev last week. ‘They are now looking into the technical options available. The extension is supposed to be built within the next two to three years,’ the official said. MEGA currently hosts IKEA, OBI, and Auchan.

Ural Airlines started offering its customers tickets for summertime flights recently. On February 1-28, 2011, one can enjoy a discount on tickets to all the destinations in the South of Russia as well as tickets for international scheduled flights to be operated between May 1, 2011 and September 30. 2011. Those who prefer to spend their summer vacations abroad will find Italy, Spain, the Czech Republic, Israel, the United Arab Emirates, Turkey, and China particularly appealing.

Selling tours to Egypt under current circumstances is a crass violation of Russian law and is liable to prosecution, Russia’s Ministry for Sports, Tourism and Youth Policies and Rostourism warn. The two authorities remind everyone that, given the current situation in Egypt, Russian tourists can definitely demand that their tour contracts be canceled or the terms of the contract be modified due to a drastic change of circumstances that were in place at the contract-signing moment (like worsened traveling conditions or other circumstances). Their claims will be based on Articles 10 and 14 of

A Turkish Airlines flight from Istanbul to Yekaterinburg has been nearly ten hours late by now. Flight 475 was to have arrived at 6:25 AM on January 31, 2011. However, the weather conditions caused a delay, so the flight is now supposed to arrive at 3:00 PM. This means that flight 476 from Yekaterinburg to Istanbul gets delayed accordingly. The departure time is now 4:00 PM rather than 7:45 AM.

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, January 27, 2011. MEGA’s Yekaterinburg mall will soon get a new extension to the already existing building. ‘They are currently considering the technical options available,’ says Vice Mayor of Yekaterinburg Viktor Konteev at a press hour. Konteev reminded the attendees that about 1.5 million people came to MEGA every month. The extension will probably be completed within the next two or three years. MEGA currently houses IKEA, OBI, and Auchan.

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, January 27, 2011. The tickets for flight from Yekaterinburg to the Czech Republic’s Karlovy Vary/Carlsbad by Czech Connect Airlines a.s. are now being sold at a price that is higher than that originally promised by the carrier. It has been reported to UrBC that the cheapest tickets are available for ?405. Now the company had claimed earlier that the tickets would cost ?335 plus the fuel fees. Czech Connect Airlines a.s announced a week ago it was planning to operate scheduled flights from Yekaterinburg to Karlovy Vary starting March 23, 2011. The flight is expected to be

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, January 27, 2011. Yekaterinburg city council forbade 73 Malyshev St. condominium to cut down the trees of a local park to reconstruct Passage Mall. ‘The mall’s design is now being finished. The point is to build more floors, introduce more space and a new architectural solution as well as products range on offer in the mall,’ Vice Mayor of Yekaterinburg Viktor Konteev announced at a meeting with the local reporters. Now according to Passage Mall reconstruction project that is now available online, the building might take up a stretch of park in Square 1905. ‘We insist

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, January 27, 2011. The public prosecution authorities of Sverdlovsk Region are now investigating the cutting down of trees and the building jobs in Repin St. and Zoologicheskaya St. in Yekaterinburg. The authorities are checking whether the land allotment was legitimately provided for this activity. Forum Group intends to put up a retail park in the city’s Verkh-Isetsky district. The developer wants to build 113,000 sq m worth of shopping space and expects to cut down over 1,100 trees for the purpose. However, the company refused to explain whether it has a permission to

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, January 27, 2011. ‘The locals planning to take some time off and go to Egypt are naturally worried about the insurgencies there. We keep on getting calls from customers who ask to be explained what’s going on there. Nevertheless, there is no need to be concerned right now, as the trouble only involves Cairo at the moment, while the touristy areas like Hurghada, Sharm El Sheikh, and other places are nice and quiet. This is what those who have just come back from Egypt report, too,’ Director of Zima-Leto Travel Agency Olga Gulyar told UrBC. Egypt is now faced with mass

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, January 28, 2011. Starting March 22, 2011, OAO Ural Airlines will be offering its customers a new flight to the Czech Republic, namely, a flight from Yekaterinburg to Karlovy Vary and back. Tickets are already available in all the booking offices as well as via the carrier’s website www.uralairlines.com. ‘At least a third of all tourists flying to the Czech Republic during the high season goes to Karlovy Vary, so the flight will certainly enjoy good demand. As usual, we offer special prices on the new direction,’ Ural Airlines reports. The cheapest deals come at ?299 plus

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, January 26, 2011. Ural Airlines has been expanding the range of price offers on its Moscow-bound flights and therefore making the cheapest tickets for flights from Yekaterinburg to Moscow’s Domodedovo Airport even less expensive. Starting January 26, 2011, one can buy a ticket to fly from Yekaterinburg to Moscow and back for only 8,200 RUR (4,100 RUR if you only need to fly one way). The price rate does not depend on the date of departure or arrival. Tickets are available vie the airline’s online booking office at www.uralairlines.com as well as in the booking offices of

UrBC, Moscow, January 26, 2011. Toyota Motor Corporation will have to call off 21,730 Avensis items in Russia within the framework of its worldwide product recall campaign that involves a total of 1.3 million cars. The automobiles are being called off due to a fuel injection problem, RIA Novosti was informed by OOO Toyota Motor. These are the automobiles with 2- and 2.4-liter gasoline engines produced between August 23, 2002 and September 9, 2008 that will have to be called off. ‘Our campaign is of an advisory nature, not a single case of a breakdown caused by a fuel injection problem has

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, January 26, 2011. Square 1905, a shop run by DNS chain store, closed down in downtown Yekaterinburg. DNS is a nationally wide retail chain that specializes in sales of computers and digital appliances. The company runs nine stores in Yekaterinburg. According to the company’s Advertising Department, the shop in Vosmoye Marta St. was closed down because there was no way for it to expand. The company reports they are going to reopen the outlet in a new location in mid-February 2011; however, DNS store’s new address was not provided just yet.

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, January 26, 2011. Russia’s Minister for Natural Resources and Environment Yuri Trutnev confirmed the list of Russian enterprises that make a negative impact on the environment and must be subject to environmental surveillance by the state. Orders were signed in eighty-three federal constituencies, including Sverdlovsk Region, the Ministry’s press officer reports. For one, METRO Cash & Carry was featured on the list.