Появление и развитие авиалиний на Урале

The appearance and development of Ural Airlines

Появление и развитие авиалиний на Урале

On 4 October 2007 in Ekaterinburg in presence of the governor of the Sverdlovsk Oblast a ceremonial signing of the International Agreement between Ural Airlines and Airbus Concern was held with regard to purchasing 7 new Airbus aircraft by the Russian party. Delivery period according to the Agreement is scheduled for 2012 - beginning of 2013.
 In the current international integration conditions the partnership relations between airlines is a gage of successful development of air carriage market. Currently, Ural Airlines have about fifty interline-agreements with the leading Russian and foreign airlines, among which are «Czech airlines» (Czechia), «Emirates» (UAE), «Swiss International Air Lines» (Switzerland), «Air France» (France), «Malev» (Hungary), «S7», «UTAir», «Aerosvit», «KrasAir»and many others.
In addition, Ural Airlines is a member of IATA Clearing House (ICH), what allows the Airline to use the world settlement system. The Airline is also a member of the Multilateral Interline Agreement (MITA). Taking part in this organization' activities allows the airlines to enlarge considerably the frames of their cooperation with their colleagues in various countries of the world. MITA system is concerned with searching for the most suitable partners. On the initial level of establishing contacts the airlines' offers are dispatched to all the air carriers - MITA members. In case of a positive answer MITA employees inform hereof the inquiry originator. Further, the specialists of both airlines come into direct contacts.
The geography of flights enlarges from year to year and accounts for more than 120 destinations.
In the first half-year period of 2008 the flights were operated to a new charter destination to the South China (city of Sanya). One more new regular destination - Milan - appeared in the itinerary network.  Frequency of flights to Bangkok and Dubai was increased. In the year 2008 new domestic flights were introduced for the following the itineraries: Moscow-Bratsk- Moscow, Novosibirsk-Khabarovsk, Khabarovsk -Novosibirsk. A new flight to Tadjikistan appeared: Moscow-Kulyab.
Starting from February 2009 it is planned to start operations to the itinerary Samara-Novosibirsk-Krasnoyarsk, and in March Ural Airlines starts a new daily flight from the capital to the itinerary: Moscow-Novosibirsk.
Making convenient every step of a passenger to the flight and making comfortable and memorable the air travel itself is the major task to be resolved by the Airline's complex of service departments.  The own multi-channel passenger support service  8-800-2000-262, (343) 345-36-45 is created for passenger service.
One of the most important components of the information service is the Airline's own website www.uralairlines.com, which continuously enlarges its functional capacities in accordance with the current applicable standards of the Internet service.  Some additional services have appeared  such as: taxi call, tickets delivery, catering selection, payment by means of payment system Yandex.Money.
In December 2007 the analytical center «Expert -Ural» carried out an independent research among the websites of the airlines of the Urals and the Western Siberia. A group of experts tested websites of the airlines and the airports from the point of view of usual passengers for which it is important to find the required information promptly, to avail of additional services. The research was carried out among 9 airlines of the region operating on the market of regular passenger carriages and using the first-class aircraft (weight over 75 tons) and the airport of the region. Ural Airlines' website was recognized to be the best.
Ural Airlines successfully operates several programs oriented to the most common people. The policy for support of socially disadvantaged categories of citizens is carried out actively. On an yearly basis approximately 50 000 passengers fly under the governmental and own Airline's benefits.  Among them are the following categories of citizens: children, students, youth, pensioners, mothers with many children). It is not for the first year under the contract with the Ministry of Defense a program for provisioning of all military carriages is effective in the Ural Region.  A similar cooperation program is effective with the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Frontier Service of the RF. These facts became a significant argument for awarding a title of the winner in the national contest "Organization of high social effectiveness" to Ural Airlines in 2002. «Wings Loyalty Program» and «Program for Corporate Clients» have been developed and successfully implemented. Wings Travel Club and ‘'Europort" International Tour Operator render a complete package of services for arrangement of tourist and business trips within Russia and abroad.
 Wings Loyalty Program for passengers (FFP), which was considerably improved continues to operate successfully. For each flight on Ural Airlines' regular flights a passenger receives bonus rubles to his/her personal account at a rate of 10% of the airfare paid - the ticket cost without fuel charge.  With certain number of bonus rubles accumulated a passenger can perform a bonus flight. For the years of existence the program has been intensively developed and the number of participants in comparison with the year 2006 became two times as large. It results from an intensive promotion of the program and special offers and events carried out on a regular basis.
Ural Airlines successfully operates several programs oriented to the most common people:
The Airline is developing extensively its official website by making it not only information-intensive, but also more functional.