UrBC, Yekaterinburg, March 14, 2019. Ural Airlines’ customers can now get up to 12% off at PACK&FLY luggage-wrapping stations; the offer holds for the passengers with Ural Airlines’ boarding pass or e-ticket itinerary receipt and for all of the airline’s Wings Club members, the air carrier’s press service reports. There’s a 10% discount on standard wrapping (you’ll need to produce your e-ticket itinerary receipt; the e-tickets are available on the company website, on Ural Airlines mobile app, over the phone, and at Ural Airlines’ booking offices). A 10% discount is also offered if you

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, March 14, 2019. The Ural Bank for Reconstruction & Development (UBRD) went through with its national network management reorganization by dividing different parts of Russia where the bank operates into special divisions and decentralizing control over these areas. There are now nine divisions active in the parts of the country where the bank’s offices are located, UBRD Chair of the Board Anton Solovyov said at a press conference in Yekaterinburg today. ‘Different divisions will be adopting different strategies varying in the degree of aggression, aspects of

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, March 13, 2019. Ural Airlines are introducing a new Samara-Tashkent-Samara flight, the air carrier’s press service reports. The flight will get operated every Tuesday starting from April 2, 2019. Flight U6 2947 — Departure (Samara): 10:05 PM, Arrival (Tashkent): 01:55 AM. Flight U6 2948 — Departure (Tashkent): 03:35 AM, Arrival (Samara): 05:50 AM. Prices start from RUB 11,175/€ 149 (one way, all fees included). The flights will get operated on the EU-made Airbus liners. Tickets are available on the company website www.uralairlines.com, on Ural Airlines mobile app, over

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, March 13, 2019. EVRAZ Nizhny Tagil Metallurgical Plant (EVRAZ NTMK) Head of Management System Documentation Development Office Natalya Cherkashina and the plant’s Project Manager for Operational Improvements Alexander Kozyr are now among the winners of the 19th All-Russian Engineer of The Year Contest, EVRAZ Holding Ural’s Corporate Relations Center reports. Natalya Cherkashina won the Qualified Engineer Award in Quality Management. Cherkashina is in charge of developing and introducing documentation that can support and improve the plant’s quality management systems. She

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, March 13, 2019. The Ural Bank for Reconstruction & Development (UBRD) launched an updated version of its mobile banking platform recently, the bank’s press service reports. ‘One advantage is that the system’s interface is completely new and more user-friendly, while the navigation principles are now intuitively clear; we also provide very easy-to-find information on our subscription packages and pricing policy, and there are many other interesting updates as well. The banking app has also grown more personalized: if someone is interested in a loan, for example, this

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, March 13, 2019. Yekaterinburg Council had the ownership of Akademik Sakharov Avenue in the city’s District Akademicheskiy transferred to it this month, the city council’s website states. The new road was opened to traffic on March 11. The section of Akademik Sakharov Ave from Wilhelm de Gennin St to Amundsen St (2.5 km long) will now get serviced by the local road/operational depot. Technicians have already cleaned the avenue and prepared it for the launch. ‘The avenue is a two-way road with three lanes in each direction and a safety zone in the middle (total area: 98,000

UrBC, Moscow, March 13, 2019. The Federation Council’s Social Policy Committee recently suggested that a new bill banning hostels in housing quarters and apartment buildings should best not get adopted just yet. Kommersant now refers to the committee’s chair Valeriy Ryazansky as saying the halt is necessary to ensure a longer transition period for hostel owners before the bill does come into effect. Besides, there are already quite a few hostels operating in Russia that have never registered as a business. Experts believe there could be as many as 2,000 mini-hotels in the country, and only

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, March 12, 2019. MegaFon is currently updating its best-selling subscription package Vkluchaysa and launching three new package options, including the Premium one, the company’s press service reports. Customers subscribing to the new options will get a certain amount of voice calls, Internet traffic, text messages, unlimited access to messenger services and video services as well as a number of exclusive offers. One package option, for example, makes it possible to customize your package in just a couple of clicks by choosing the exact amount of Internet traffic, voice

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, March 12, 2019. ChelPipe Group’s member enterprise META Group sold 1,422,000,000 kg of ferrous and non-ferrous scrap metal in 2018, which exceeded the figures for 2017 by 8%. The sales included 836,000,000 kg of the company’s own scrap metal and 586,000,000 kg of transit scrap metal. According to Chelyabinsk Pipe Rolling Plant (ChelPipe) PR Group, Samaravtormet, UPN Vtorchermet, and META Perm were META’s top three member enterprises in terms of rising sales (+26,000,000 kg, +11,000,000 kg, and +6,000,000 kg, respectively). The company set up nine new scrap metal depots at

UrBC, Moscow, March 12, 2019. Russians’ daily expenses increased by 1.9% in February 2019 compared with one month previously and by 7.2% compared with one year earlier; both of these figures are, in fact, ahead of both the monthly and the annual inflation rate. According to Romir Holding’s Romir Consumer Scan Panel, Russians spent five times as much in February 2019 as could be expected based on the inflation statistics. This has been the several-year high for February so far. Moreover, people’s factual expenses were also at an all-time high. Last month’s increase in spending had to do with

UrBC, Moscow, March 12, 2019. Higher School of Economics’ analysts report that over 40% of Russians in the low-income and medium-income groups are finding it extremely difficult to handle their bank loans. Volga Federal District, Southern Federal District, and Siberian Federal District are currently the three Russian constituencies with the greatest number of loan-burdened people living there. According to Kommersant, the amount of loans issued to private customers rose by 22.8% last year, even though people’s disposable incomes declined by 0.2%. Unsecured loans make up under 50% of the

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, March 12, 2019. 32.5% of people employed in Sverdlovsk Region’s education sector get paid under RUB 15,000 a month, RIA Rating’s research findings (based on Rosstat’s latest data) indicate. Sverdlovsk Region was No.24 in the rating based on the amount of pay its education sector workers get. 7.2% of local teachers earn more than RUB 50,000 a month; 27.7% of teachers and trainers earn more than the constituency’s average as well. Teachers’ earnings are at their highest in Moscow, where more than 60% get paid over RUB 50,000 a month, whereas Chechnya, Ingushetiya, and

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, March 11, 2019. Best women workers got awarded at EVRAZ Holding’s EVRAZ Nizhny Tagil Metallurgical Plant (EVRAZ NTMK) and Kachkanarsky Ore Mining and Processing Enterprise (EVRAZ KGOK), on International Women’s Day, EVRAZ Holding Ural’s Corporate Relations Center reports. The two plants’ Managing Director Alexei Kushnarev and Chair of EVRAZ NTMK Trade Union Vladimir Radayev distributed the prizes and thank-you letters in the course of an awarding ceremony. EVRAZ NTMK’s most prestigious award for women, the First Woman Furnace Attendant Faina Sharunova Prize, gets awarded

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, March 11, 2019. The share of business customers setting up savings deposits online now comes to 75% of all business customers banking with the Ural Bank for Reconstruction and Development (UBRD), the bank’s press service reports. According to the bank’s statistical data, business customers mostly choose iDeposit: this deposit type makes up 60.2% of all the deposits at the bank. The product is so popular because it is very easy to open: it only takes a couple of clicks in your Light e-banking system (for small businesses) or Pro system (for medium and large enterprises).

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, March 11, 2019. The Ural Bank for Reconstruction and Development’s website came first in the rating of websites maintained by banks with HQ in the Urals and Western Siberia (based on Expert Analytical Center’s research findings), the bank’s press service reports. The website scored the most for its cleverly designed user interface and visual appeal. The content itself also got evaluated higher than the content of other banks’ websites. Expert Analytical Center looked into online platforms run by independent banks operating in the Urals and Western Siberia. The evaluation

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, March 11, 2019. Sverdlovsk Region is currently Ural Federal District’s No. 1 market in terms of how many new smartphones get purchased on a trade-in scheme where you can hand your old gadget in. Every one in three mobile devices bought on the program at MegaFon’s stores gets bought in Sverdlovsk Region, the company’s press service reports. Yekaterinburg and Nizhniy Tagil are the two top cities in the constituency where the largest number of old phones gets traded in; Novouralsk, Asbest, and Kamensk Uralsky come next. MegaFon’s trade-in scheme is an opportunity to sell

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, March 11, 2019. The very first class of ProyekTY Social Skills School had its performance assessed and its best student projects awarded in the course of a solemn ceremony at ChelPipe Group’s Training Center. According to the Group’s press service, the ceremony was attended by Managing Director of ChelPipe Group’s Pervouralsk New Pipe Plant (PNTZ) Alexei Dronov, Mayor of Pervouralsk Igor Kabets, and Director of Sverdlovsk Region Business Support Foundation Ilya Sulla. The school’s twenty-four students presented sixteen projects related to social services, healthcare,

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, March 7, 2019. EVRAZ Consolidated West-Siberian Metallurgical Plant (EVRAZ ZSMK) got its OR50 NT260 rails for compliance with the Russian Railways’ standards,’ EVRAZ Holding’s PR Department reports. ‘Russian Railways representatives and the plant’s own experts carried out a number of qualification tests together. Rail samples were also sent to the All-Russian Railway Research Institute (VNIIZhT), which confirmed the rails were very good quality,’ the Department says. EVRAZ ZSMK is Russia’s only enterprise that makes OR50 rails for track-switching sections of the railroad.

UrBC, Magnitogorsk, March 7, 2019. Magnitogorsk Iron & Steel Works (MMK) saved around RUB 500 million last year through a series of energy efficiency programs, MMK’s Information & PR Department reports. One such program has to do with processing and introduction of improvement proposals relating to energy efficiency. In 2016, the plant launched Ideas Management unit within its Energy Management Platform app. This made handling energy efficiency proposals more productive and made the entire process of submitting a proposal and having it launched much faster. 680 improvement proposals

UrBC, Chelyabinsk, March 7, 2019. ChelPipe Group recently published its financial report for the year 2018; the report was drawn up according to the International Accounting Standards, the company’s press service reports. According to the report, the Group sold 1,916,000,000 kg of pipes last year; 498,500,000 kg got exported and 1,417,000,000 kg got sold on the Russian market. 16.5% of all sales made by Russian pipe manufacturers got made by ChelPipe Group in 2018. The company sold more than 4,800,000 kg of stamp-welded items (fittings, joints, and T-pieces) to customers in 2018, along with