DHL offers a little help to Grandfather Frost

By tradition, the Russian Santa - called Grandfather Frost - brings joy and presents in time for New Year. To help ensure no-one is disappointed DHL Express is operating a special flight from Moscow to Siberia via the Urals. 

The service from the world's leading international express delivery provider is flying from the capital to Yekaterinburg and Novosibirsk. 

The first such flight last saw saw the timely delivery of around 12,000 shipments for more than 2000 corporate and private customers.

This is expected to more than double in 2012, and there is also a sharp increase in deliveries of online purchases as people order presents at the last minute. 

'Last year we were the first express delivery provider in Russia to launch our own dedicated domestic flight, and this decision paid off', said  Adrian Marley, Managing Director DHL Express CIS & South East Europe.

'Our customers received their shipments on time despite seasonal difficulties, such as growing volumes during the pre-holiday weeks and insufficient capacity with commercial carriers.

'We can be sure that our network in Russia is ready for the peak period.

'Our contact centres will successfully process the increasing number of incoming calls thanks to the timely recruitment of extra staff, our courier routes have been optimised, and we expect the DHL Express service to remain at the highest level, regardless of the workload and weather conditions'.