OREANDA-NEWS. December 29, 2009. UTair Avaition has been awarded “Best Exporter in Yugra,” the top honor at a special competition held in Khanty-Mansiysk for the first time this year. A panel of industry experts judged participants on criteria including the shipping sales growth rate, the share of cargo transport in overall operations, the geography of distribution, compliance with international standards and job creation, among others.

UTair’s helicopter division has been the leading component of UTair air cargo operations for 20 years. More than 60 helicopters are in operation servicing contracts in 2009 and more than 500 highly skilled UTair employees ensure successful helicopter operations abroad. UTair is the largest helicopter services supplier for the United Nations.

The UTair also provides services in the passenger segment: UTair operates scheduled passenger flights on aircraft to Germany, Israel, Azerbaijan, Tajikistan, Ukraine, Lithuania, as well as charter flights worldwide.

“Winning this competition is a great honor for us,” said Andrey Martirosov, UTair General Director. “The largest Russian exporters operate in Yugra, and we are proud to number ourselves among them.”

The share of air cargo in the airline’s total services sales is expected to exceed 10 billion rubles by the end of 2009.

The grand prize for the competition is 1.35 m rubles. The company intends to spend the prize money on charity programs in the Khanty-Mansisk Autonomous Region.