Ural Airlines has recently reported that the carrier is fully prepared for the summer season. The company is still the regional leader in terms of Egypt- and Turkey-bound flights, and the number of passengers is expected to grow even further this summer. Chartered flights to Saloniki, Cyprus, and Bulgaria are going to be introduced in the very near future. Some new destinations will also become available in Chelyabinsk and some other cities, says the company’s press officer. Speaking of Chelyabinsk, there are three chartered flights to Antalya consolidated by Coral and More Travel this year;

Federal Antimonopoly Service has been trying to reveal any cases of collective domination on the regional retail oil markets. The law says that any three bodies possessing an over 50% share of the market, or any five bodies possessing more than 70% of the market (provided each player has at least 8%), can be classed as an instance of collective domination; such cases have been found in 38 Russian Regions, namely: Bashkortostan, Altai, Karachaevo-Cherkessia, Karelia, Tatarstan, Udmurtia, Chuvashia, Krasnodar Region, Perm Region, Stavropol Region, Amur Region, Arkhangelsk Region, Astrakhan

‘The state of Sverdlovsk Region Railways is deplorable and, as a matter of fact, this is the most poorly functioning section in Russia. The losses amounted to 13 million RUR last year; to make matters worse, the company failed to achieve the target performance figures for the first quarter of 2007,’ President of Russian Railways Vladimir Yakunin announced at a meeting with the company representatives today. ‘The safety level was obviously shameful last year; there were cases of setoffs, five instances of derailing, and damaging of goods. Anyone has a right to err, but if this person’s mistake

Governor of Sverdlovsk Region Eduard Rossel held a meeting with Koltsovo airport management on April 13, 2007 to discuss the summer aviation season, reports the spokesperson for the Governor. The meeting was attended by Head of the Governor’s Administration Alexander Levin, acting Head of Sverdlovsk Region Government Galina Kovaleva, Ural Airlines CEO Sergey Skuratov, and General Director of Koltsovo airport Mikhail Maximov. The meeting participants had to discuss changes in the schedule of summer south-bound flights. Koltsovo suggested changing Ural Airlines’ traditional flight departure

The planning project of the first section of Academic district of Yekaterinburg was approved by the Mayor. This project is the key document to be used in the further construction process that determines the boundaries of the district, general characteristics, and engineering particularities. The builders can now start getting things ready in terms of engineering and power-supplying facilities. ‘The overarching idea behind the project is creating a residential area with good quality, comfortable living space that could include the River Patrushikha and some forests; it is going to be a city

United Company RUSAL was registered in Cyprus, says Chairman of the Board Viktor Vekselberg. Most assets will still be classed as Russian, he explains; the registration in Cyprus is needed, however, to enter the global market. The new company unites a number of aluminum plants (Bratsk, Krasnoyarsk, Novokuznetsk, Sayanogorsk, Khakas Aluminum Smelters, Achinsk Alumina Plant, Nikolaev and Boksitogorsk Alumina Refineries, Friguia Alumina Plant (Guinea), Compagnie des Bauxites de Kindia (Guinea), Bauxite Company of Guyana, a stake in the Queensland Alumina Refinery (Australia), as well as ARMENAL,

‘The number of Russian air carriers tends to go down: there were only 182 operating airlines at the beginning of 2007 against 252 companies in 2002. About half of the former players had to leave since they failed to meet the certification requirements; another half had to close down for economic reasons,’ head of Ural division of Federal Transport Surveillance Agency Anatoly Telegin said at the 4th air travel conference Urals’ Open Sky 2007 on April 13, 2007. ‘95% of all domestic flights are performed by the country’s top 30 air carriers (including Ural Airlines), the remaining 5% of flights

The final tour of Russia’s Best Banker contest has recently taken place in Moscow. The event was coordinated by the Association of Regional Banks of Russia, the Association of Russian Banks, and the Finance Academy under the Government of the Russian Federation Some leading Russian bankers, including First Deputy Chairman of the Bank of Russia Georgiy Luntovskiy, First Executive Vice President of Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs Alexander Murychev, President of the Association of Russian Banks Garegin Tosunian, President of the Association of Regional Banks of Russia Anatoly

‘The city council compiled a database of people who invested their money in housing construction in Yekaterinburg but appear to have been deceived by the builders. In addition, a special investor file has been created that is used to compile the database. What is more, an ad hoc committee is now trying to sort out these people’s problems,’ chairman of Right to a Dwelling Vasiliy Ganzhin said to UrBC. ‘Among other things, the committee will look into affairs of Noviy Grad, the local developer; it is now considering withdrawing their misused land allotments in Artelniy Lane and

The city council hosted a meeting of the logistics committee devoted to final preparations for the 3d Small Business Congress; the meeting was chaired by First Vice Mayor Alexander Yakob. The forum will take place in the Big Hall of the town house on April 17, 2007, with over 200 local entrepreneurs and 100 guests expected to attend the event. Sverdlovsk Region is reported to be Russia’s No. 3 in terms of small business development; Yekaterinburg, hosting 72% of all regional small and medium-scale enterprises, leads the way. These businesses produce about 18% of everything made in

The law-enforcement agencies of Ural Federal District had been inspecting most of the local civil services for the last three months to find out that enormous number of civil servants violated the law by concealing their entrepreneurial activity, failing to produce accurate income statements or to hold impartial tenders for goods and services rendered for state and municipal purposes. Over 800 violations were revealed altogether, including 200 offenses in Tyumen Region and more than 170 in Sverdlovsk Region. In order to respond accordingly, the district’s public prosecution authorities

According to the spokesperson for the Administration of Russian Federation Public Prosecution Authorities in Ural Federal District, over 4,200 instances of violating a citizen’s right to a timely salary have been revealed since the beginning of the year. Over 445 illegitimate acts have been impugned, 358 executives were officially warned, and 2,200 prosecutor’s claims were placed with courts as a result. Administrative suits have been filed against 635 repeated offenders, with 14 perpetrators probably to be disqualified. Seven such cases have already been heard in court. N. Filatova (director

MegaFon Ural, the mobile operator, has recently introduced a new, totally unlimited tariff suitable for communication in any spot of Russia. Territory, as it is known, thus provides virtually endless opportunities for business interaction. The fixed monthly fee covers all the outgoing calls to both mobile and landline phones in Russia provided the user is located within the coverage area of MegaFon Ural; all the ingoing and outgoing calls to mobile and landline phones in Russia provided the user is located within MegaFon’s on-network roaming zone. Territory is the best tariff scheme for

Deputy Minister for Economics and Labor of Sverdlovsk Region Anatoly Ogloblin coordinated the meeting of the committee for development and implementation of Sverdlovsk Region productive forces in 2006-2015. This time, the committee tried to analyze the banking sector development, look into small business dynamics, and estimate the potential of the region’s scientific research centers. According to First Deputy Minister for Economics and Labor Nikolai Bespamyatnikh, most of the goals defined in the developmental schemes for last year were achieved. Moreover, most of the target figures were

Experts from the Plenipotentiary Representation of Russian Federation President in Ural Federal District looked into the area’s socio-economic development in the two months of 2007 to find out that the better part of these months’ success has been due to impressive industrial growth of Tyumen and Chelyabinsk Regions. The regions’ manufacturers are doing particularly well, so is the housing business: 447,400 square meters of dwellings have been commissioned since the beginning of the year, which is twice the amount of January-February 2007. 5,040 apartments have been put up altogether compared

According to First Deputy Governor of Chelyabinsk Region Vladimir Dyatlov, the area’s industrial production output grew by 11.8% in January-March 2007 compared to the first quarter of 2006. Machine-building industry did particularly well; the production of trucks rose by 71%, that of tractors by 65%. The agricultural output went up by 10%, freight turnover of haulage enterprises increased by 16.7%, the volume of communication services soared by 39.4%. The region’s profit-yielding companies made 17.2bn RUR in January-February 2007, which exceeds the figures for two months of 2006 by 65.2%.

Governor of Sverdlovsk Region Eduard Rossel and Governor of Chukotka Roman Abramovich visited Metallurgical Industrial Complex of Nizhniy Tagil (part of Evraz Group) on April 12, 2007. Mr. Abramovich arrived in Yekaterinburg at the personal invitation of Mr. Rossel. The two governors met at the official residence of Governor of Sverdlovsk Region, went to the local Cathedral-on-Blood and then to Uralochka (a sports palace) and relocated to Nizhniy Tagil afterwards. In the course of their visit to Metallurgical Industrial Complex, CEO Alexei Kushnarev told them about the ongoing reconstruction

‘Foreign travelers hardly ever come to Yekaterinburg for sightseeing purposes, it’s mainly business that brings them here. Almost no one comes to relax or check out our historic landmarks,’ Yulia Pantileenko of Palma Tours Travel Agency said to UrBC. ‘Our hotels are actually overpriced: it will cost you less to stay in Saint Petersburg (which is extremely rich in places of interest),’ she said. In the meantime, Russian Union of Travel Industry reports that the number of travelers from abroad might go down 10% this year. The disproportion between the tourist activity within and outside the

Plenipotentiary Representation of Russian Federation President in Ural Federal District presented its findings on the area’s socio-economic development in two months of 2007. Plenipotentiary Representative of Russian Federation President in Ural Federal District Petr Latyshev says the data indicate that the population incomes have been growing; so have the investments, industrial production, housing construction, and retail trade. The unemployment rate is still below the Russian average; so are arrears of wages, mortality rate, and the spread of the so-called social diseases. The industrial

Russian Copper Company managed to raise its blister copper production output to 90,000 tons a year in 2006 (or by 2.1 times), reports the company’s press officer. The total output of the enterprise in 2003 (the year it was set up) only came to 75,000 tons of copper and 10,000 tons of copper wire rod a year, but by 2006, Russian Copper Company more than doubled these figures (185,000 tons and 105,000 tons, respectively), and they are expected to reach 250,000 tons and 200,000 tons in 2007. The company is now using the whole potential of all of its production facilities