S7 is Russia's largest domestic airline. It is forecast to carry around 5,000,000 passengers in 2006. In 1957, the Tolmachevo United Air Squadron was formed in Novosibirsk. At the time, it was Aeroflot’s largest regional subsidiary. Its first passenger flights were between Novosibirsk and Moscow with Tu-104s. In May 1992, following a directive from the Russian Ministry of Transport, a state-run enterprise called Sibir Airlines, based on the Tolmachevo squadron, was created. In June that year, the process of privatising the company began. In August 1994, Sibir Airlines received its international IATA code, S7, and in 2001 it became an active member of the International Air Transport Association. Since 1998, the company has been growing rapidly. Since 2002, Sibir has been Russia’s leading domestic carrier. In February 2004, the airline won the Market Leadership Award from the prestigious American aviation magazine Air Transport World. A year earlier, Sibir had become the first Russian winner of the Award for Excellence in Corporate Strategy at the Flight International Aerospace Awards. Today S7 is one of the world’s 50 biggest domestic airlines, and one of the top 100 in terms of key performance indicators. In 2006 we made more than 40,000 flights, carrying 4,900,000 passengers and more than 28,000 tonnes of cargo and post. In December the same year, S7 successfully underwent the new IOSA (IATA Operational Safety Audit) IOSA (IATA Operational Safety Audit), an important factor with regard to the global airline community’s recognition of S7’s status as a safe carrier conforming to the strictest modern requirements. Since March 2006, Sibir Airlines has operated under the registered trade name S7 Airlines. The introduction of the new name marked the start of the present stage in our development, a shift from a formal to a more friendly and sensitive approach, giving passengers new standards of service, based on the use of modern technology and the freedom to choose and to experience the new sensations involved in flying. Today, S7’s passengers can easily take advantage of the extensive opportunities offered by the airline’s domestic flight network to every major city in Russia and the rest of the CIS. S7 operates scheduled flights to Europe and countries in the Asia-Pacific region, as well as charter flights to 20 countries around the world. S7’s unique flight network is based around three air hubs at Moscow (Domodedovo), Novosibirsk (Tolmachevo) and Irkutsk, plus ones recently added at Chelyabinsk (Balandino) and Perm (Bolshoe Savino). The airline’s planes make around 120 scheduled flights a day, including more than 50 from Moscow. To keep its flight network operating efficiently and smoothly, S7 has a large fleet of aircraft, amongst which are 60 long-haul airliners, including Airbus А319 and A310s, Boeing 737s, Tupolev Tu-154Мs and Ilyushin Il-86s. We are always working hard to upgrade our fleet with comfortable modern aircraft. Highly professional engineering and technical personnel, trained in Russia and abroad to the same level as specialists working for the world’s best airlines, keep S7’s aircraft airworthy and ensure high levels of flight safety. In recent years, S7 has been gradually expanding the geographical scope of its international flights, and has worked intensively to conclude interline, code-sharing and special prorate agreements with other airlines. At present, it has such agreements with more than 70 airlines, including British Airways, Lufthansa, Korean Air, Air China, Qantas Airways, Thai Airways, JAL, United Airlines and other major global air carriers