OREANDA-NEWS. UTair Aviation and Eldorado have partnered up with LG Electronics to support the program for the voluntary donation of blood and blood components developed by the Russian Ministry of Healthcare and the Federal Biomedical Agency, held on September 24 - October 11, 2014. Eldorado, a long-term partner in the consumer electronics business and social projects, and UTair have sponsored a series of promotional events as a part of the Air Marathon for a Good Cause initiated by LG Electronics. UTair Aviation aircraft have transported Air Marathon participants over 30,300 km on visits to Irkutsk, Tyumen, Yekaterinburg, Novosibirsk and Omsk. More than 450 people participated in Donor Days at the cities on the Air Marathon route: employees of LG, Eldorado, UTair, as well as members of the state sponsored Run after Me project for youth. The event has received support from famed Russian sportsmen including the first Russian world champion in women's figure skating Maria Butyrskaya, two-time Olympic bobsled champion Alexander Zubkov, Olympic biathlon champion Anton Shipulin, Olympic high jump champion Ivan Ukhov, and Olympic bronze medalist world champion Maxim Chudov. Tatyana Shakhnes, PR Director at LG Electronics Russia and a member of Coordination Centre for Donation in the Civic Chamber of the Russian Federation, gave moving talks on the importance of corporate volunteering in blood drives to 1,100 students in every city of the Air Marathon.

The eighteen day Air Marathon for a Good Cause was created to support and develop corporate blood donation, to promote the importance of socially responsible business and to unite several of Russians largest corporations with the goal of accomplishing a high profile promotional mission with broad impact. The initiative aimed at extending the geography of blood donation and promoting public service ideas and health education among youth. The Air Marathon for a Good Cause is a successor of such projects as the Innovations and Good Deeds on Rails and the Technology for a Good Cause Marathon, also multi-city events in which Eldorado employees helped run several blood drive events organized by the Russian Ministry of Healthcare and the Federal Biomedical Agency and initiated by LG Electronics.