OREANDA-NEWS. UTair (UTair Aviation JSC) held its annual general meeting of shareholders in Khanty-Mansiysk.

At the general meeting, UTair’s shareholders approved the airline’s annual report, financial statement and profit and loss accounts for 2006, allocated the profit for 2006, as well as approved the payment of RUR0,138 (approx. USD0,005) as dividend per common share for 2006.

Based on the airline’s annual report, in the year ended December 31, 2006 UTair increased passenger flow by 23,1 percent compared with the previous year.

In 2006, UTair carried 2,417,060 people, up 28,1 percent from 2005.

UTair’s airliners and helicopters logged 168,789 of flight hours in the reporting period, which is 13,4 percent more than a year earlier. The airline’s 2006 financial statement indicated a net profit of RUR263,9m (approx. USD10,22m), which is 106,2 percent more than in 2005.

The general meeting elected new members of UTair’s Supervisory Board and Auditing Committee.

The Supervisory Board now comprises the following members: Andrei Kuvashev, Svetlana Kukotina, Lyudmila Loginovskaya, Andrei Martirosov, Vyacheslav Novitsky, Alexander Popyzenko, and Sergei Savin. Vyacheslav Novitsky, First Deputy Chairman of the government of the Khanty-Mansiysk Autonomous District-Yugra, was re-elected Chairman of the Supervisory Board, a post he has held since 2002. Andrei Martirosov was elected to serve his sixth two-year term as General Director.

Furthermore, the general meeting approved UTair’s auditors for 2007, Rosexpertiza LLC to audit the airline’s financial and economic activities under Russian rules and regulations, and Ernst & Young to hold audits under international financial reporting standards. UTair is set to maintain focus on passenger transport services and helicopter operations in Russia and abroad. For passenger operations, the airline proposes to use 90 jets (22 Tu-154, 17 An-24, ten Yak-40, 34 Tu-134 and seven ATR-42-300/320 liners). UTair’s reckons to carry over three million passengers this year.

In 2007, 65 helicopters of the airline’s fleet (32 Mi-8MTV, seven Mi-26 and 26 Mi-8T aircraft) will be involved in operations for UN peacekeeping and humanitarian missions as well as under various international contracts

The airline projects the flight time of its helicopter operations in Russia to reach some 50,000 hours. To achieve the target, 56 Mi-8T, one Mi-8S, seven Mi-8MTV1 and seven Mi-26 helicopters will be engaged.