Korean Air saved by cargo in Q2

Korean Air beat earnings expectations, as it posted an operating profit of 148.5 billion won ($125.2 million) during the second quarter of this year due to its focus on cargo at a time airlines across the world are suffering unprecedented losses. The airline’s overall revenue however dropped by 44 percent compared to the same time last year, according to its tentative financial report released Thursday. But its efforts to streamline the business and prioritize its cargo business seem to

Aug. 6, 2020

HDC shoots back at Kumho

HDC Hyundai Development Company on Thursday blasted at Kumho Industrial as the party responsible for hindering their acquisition deal and said a new round of due diligence is necessary to prevent both firms from facing insolvency together should they push ahead. Kumho owns Asiana Airlines. “We are deeply disappointed that the seller is pinning the blame of breaching the contract on the buyer when HDC Hyundai Development Company has been duly following the acquisition process by procuring

Aug. 6, 2020

Incheon Airport offers lower rent to house duty-free shops

Incheon Airport said Thursday it has begun the bidding process to seek duty-free store operators in new rent deals, as it promised 30 percent lower rent prices than previously proposed to soften the blow from the ongoing pandemic. In a statement, Incheon International Airport Corp., the operator of the airport, explained it is seeking new business partners at Terminal 1, as previously signed contracts will start to expire from August. The bidding process has been launched for six out of the ei

Aug. 6, 2020

Hyundai Motor, Urban-Air Port to develop urban air mobility

Hyundai Motor will join hands with British mobility company to speed up the development of infrastructure related to urban air mobility, the automaker confirmed Thursday. Hyundai Air Mobility, a unit of Hyundai Motor Group, and UK-based Urban-Air Port agreed to partner to jointly develop infrastructure for urban air mobility, which is urban transportation systems to move people and cargo by air, according to Hyundai Motor. Under the partnership, Hyundai Air Mobility and Urban-Air Port plan

Aug. 6, 2020

Mercedes-Benz Korea appoints Vice President Kim Jee-seop as interim CEO

Mercedes-Benz Korea said Wednesday it appointed Kim Jee-seop, vice president of customer services department, as interim president and CEO. Bjorn Hauber, president of Mercedes-Benz Sweden and Denmark, was originally appointed as the president and CEO of Mercedes-Benz Korea as of August 1, but could not take the position due to personal reasons, the automaker said. Kim joined Mercedes-Benz Korea in 2002 through the Mercedes-Benz Global Asia Management Associate Program. He worked at the Da

Aug. 5, 2020

Jeju Air suffers major setback as operating loss more than doubles

South Korea’s largest low-cost carrier Jeju Air suffered an operating loss of 84.7 billion won ($73.3 million) during the second quarter this year, raising its net operating loss for the first half of the year to nearly 150 billion won, according to a tentative financial report released Wednesday. The deficit grew by over 200 percent compared to the same time last year when the airline posted an operating loss of 27.4 billion won. Jeju Air posted 36 billion won in sales, down a whopping

Aug. 5, 2020

Hyundai Motor’s US sales turns positive in 5 months

Hyundai Motor’s sales in the US market rose slightly over a period of five months, after struggling from the pandemic. Hyundai Motor America said Tuesday it reported total sales of 57,677 units last month in the region, a 1 percent increase from a year ago. Sales grew 4 percent, marking the third consecutive month of increase. Sport utility vehicles pulled up the performance, representing 67 percent of the total retail mix and growing by 16 percent on-year. Flagship SUV Palisade sales

Aug. 4, 2020

Korean shipbuilders win consecutive orders despite pandemic

South Korean shipbuilders have won orders one after another in recent months after suffering from a dismal performance in the first half of this year. Expectations are growing that they will continue to win more liquefied natural gas carrier orders in the latter half despite the pandemic. Korea Shipbuilding & Offshore Engineering, the shipbuilding holding unit of Hyundai Heavy Industries Group, said Tuesday it had won orders worth more than 1 trillion won ($837 million) in a week. KSOE

Aug. 4, 2020

[Behind the Wheel] SsangYong’s Rexton Sports Dynamic Edition shows off strength off-road

While pickup trucks have not been a major segment in South Korea’s automobile market, SsangYong Motor’s Rexton truck is something of an exception, with competitive pricing, convenient functions and designs attractive enough to change the minds of sedan-lovers. Rolling out Rexton Sports in 2018, the country’s first open-deck sports utility vehicle, SsangYong has taken 97 percent of the local market share, selling over 40,000 units of the car in first and second year of release

Aug. 2, 2020

Seoul seeks to phase out diesel cars from public sector by 2025

Seoul plans to phase out diesel cars from public sector and mass transit fleets by 2025 as part of efforts to accelerate its transition to green mobility.     The metropolitan government unveiled a "No Diesel" initiative this week aimed at eliminating the highly emitting automobiles from the roads and replacing them with electric and hydrogen-powered vehicles.   Diesel cars, deemed as a key culprit of climate change and fine dust air pollution, account for 64.6 p

Aug. 1, 2020

Korean Air flight flew to Japan with mechanical damage: BAI

Korean Air flew a damaged plane in 2018 without being aware of it until landing in Japan, and then falsely reported that the damage happened after the flight, an audit report said Friday. According to the report issued by the Board of Audit and Inspection, the South Korean flag carrier filed a false report to the Transport Ministry after discovering that its plane leaving from Incheon to Kansai, Japan, in April of 2018 had been damaged near the cover of the its engine inlet before take-off. T

July 31, 2020

Incheon Airport, golf course operator to meet Wednesday over lease dispute

Incheon International Airport Corp. said Friday that it is fully cooperating with the Korean Anti-Corruption and Civil Rights Commission’s investigation into a lease dispute surrounding a golf course built on airport-owned land. A three-way meeting between the airport, the anti-corruption body and golf resort Sky72 is scheduled for Wednesday, an airport official said. IIAC and Sky72 have been at odds over the land leased by the airport to the golf resort operator since 2002, with the cont

July 31, 2020

BMW Motorrad opens preorders for new R 18 cruiser in South Korea

BMW Motorrad said Friday it is opening the preorders for new R 18 cruiser in South Korea, before the official launch in September. According to the company, the new R 18 model, which has been inspired by the R 5 model that was released in 1936, is a cruiser bike equipped with the strongest boxer engine the company has ever made. The 1,802 cc two-cylinder boxer engine delivers a maximum torque of 158 newton-meters at 3,000 rpm. At 4,750 rpm, the Big Boxer delivers 91 horsepower, the company s

July 31, 2020

Korean Air to supply ‘hybrid drones’ to military

Korean Air has signed a supply deal for hybrid drones for the military, with plans to send the first batch of six units sometime in late October, the company said Thursday. As part of the deal, which is designed for the military to adopt the products of creative and new technologies developed in the private sector, the airline’s drones will be deployed to guard Korea’s coasts. The drones, whose development began in 2016, are equipped with hybrid engines powered by an internal combu

July 30, 2020

Tit-for-tat escalates on Asiana-HDC deal

Tension surged in the aviation industry Thursday, with HDC Hyundai Development Co. and Asiana Airlines trading barbs over who is to blame for the lagging acquisition process. HDC on Thursday repeated its call for Asiana to agree to a new round of due diligence in August to finalize its acquisition process. In a statement, the building company said that its call for another round of due diligence last week is being ignored, and claimed that Kumho Industrial and the airline appear poised to term

July 30, 2020

KAIDA chairman suspended on sexual harassment allegations

Korea Automobile Importers and Distributors Association on Wednesday suspended its Chairman Pablo Rosso after he was accused of sexual harassment and assault. Earlier on Friday, the president of Fiat Chrysler Automobiles Korea was suspended from his company after the allegations were brought up on the presidential petition site on July 22. The association, which represents importers and distributors of automobiles, said it held an emergency board meeting Tuesday to vote on suspending Rosso,

July 29, 2020

Global air traffic won’t return to pre-pandemic levels until 2024: IATA

The International Air Transport Association says air travel will take four years for a full recovery as a second wave of pandemic looms large and consumer confidence tumbles, pushing its previous projection back by a year. Short haul travel is expected to recover faster than long haul travel, the association said Tuesday, which means passenger numbers will return to normal levels before air traffic. The prediction comes as global air traffic, measured in revenue passenger kilometers, fell 86.5

July 29, 2020

Korean Air named world’s third-best airline by TripAdvisor

Korean Air has been selected as the third-best airline in the world by TripAdvisor’s 2020 Travelers’ Choice Awards. The annual awards, based on reviews and scores collected via the website, also named the airline as one of the best major airlines in Asia alongside Asiana Airlines. The South Korean flag carrier has over 5,200 reviews on the website in 26 languages. One review cited by the online travel company said, “They go over and beyond to ensure you have the best experien

July 29, 2020

[Behind the Wheel] Mercedes-Benz’s upgraded AMG GT gives more invigorating drive

YONGIN, Gyeonggi Province -- “The ultimate sports car, spearheading AMG family. I love to call it our street legal racing machine.” Mark Raine, vice president of product & marketing at Mercedes-Benz Korea, proudly presented a face-lifted model of the AMG GT 2-Door Coupe to press at the AMG Speedway, its racetrack located in Yongin, Gyeonggi Province, on a sunny Friday in July. Five years have passed since Mercedes-Benz Korea introduced the classic AMG GT 2-Door Coupe sports car

July 29, 2020

[Monitor] Hyundai, Kia’s accumulated car sales surpass 130 million units

Fifty-eight years since they were founded, Hyundai Motor and Kia Motors have sold a total of over 130 million vehicles as of last month, latest data showed last week. The accumulated number of vehicles sold at home and abroad by Hyundai posted 83,120,000, while sales of its affiliate Kia topped 47,210,000. Hyundai was founded in 1967 and released its first ingenious vehicle Pony in 1976. Kia began producing three-wheeled K360 in 1962 in collaboration with Toyo Kogyo, which later changed

July 29, 2020