Ural Airlines and Sberbank of Russia’s Ural branch are perhaps the first two companies in Russia to make bank cards acceptable on board, the airline’s press service reports.

Ural Airlines’ passengers can now pay for their on-board purchase, tickets the Air Express train to Moscow airports, and flight certificates right in the air using their bankcard. Starting June 7, 2011, all of the airline’s flights operated from Yekaterinburg will have electronic Visa (Infinite, Platinum, Gold, Business, Classic, and Electron) and Master Card (World Signia, Platinum, Gold, Business, Standard, Electronic) accepting terminals available; the terminals will accept the cards issued by both Russian and foreign banks.