Airports to bolster screening measures for domestic flights

South Korea‘s state-run airport operator said Tuesday it will beef up screening measures on all domestic flights to prevent the spread of the new coronavirus. Korea Airports Corp., which operates 14 airports, not including Incheon International Airport, said it plans to check body temperatures of all passengers boarding domestic flights. Passengers with symptoms of viral infection will be requested to refrain from boarding their flights and will be referred to public health authorities

March 24, 2020

Hanjin KAL appeals to shareholders to vote for current chairman

Hanjin KAL, the holding company of Hanjin Group that owns the country’s largest airline Korean Air, said Tuesday that it would ask shareholders to make the “wise decision” to vote for a current Chairman Cho Won-tae to retain his top seat.  The vote will take place during the shareholders meeting slated for Friday. Hanjin KAL said in a statement that as the global aviation industry has been hit hard by the COVID-19 pandemic, Korean Air faces an “unprecedented crisis

March 24, 2020

Hyundai Glovis launches cloud-based used car auction system

Hyundai Glovis said Tuesday that it has launched the first noncontact used car auction system by integrating information at different centers into one cloud server. The system, called “Autobell smart auction,” offers three times more sales items than other used car dealers, the supply chain management unit of Hyundai Motor Group said. It combines auction data in a cloud server gathered from its auction centers in Bundang, Sihwa in Gyeonggi Province and Yangsan in South Gyeongsang P

March 24, 2020

Asiana flight attendant infected with new coronavirus

Asiana Airlines Inc., South Korea's second-biggest airline, said Tuesday it has asked 12 cabin crew members to self-isolate after their colleague on a Incheon-New York flight was diagnosed with the new coronavirus. The infected flight attendant flew with the 12 others on the flight OZ222, which left Incheon last Tuesday (Korean time) and returned on the flight OZ221 from New York on Thursday (US time), according to Asiana. The purser reportedly traveled in his private car to Samcheok, Gangwon

March 24, 2020

Korean Air to halt more flights to China amid virus woes

South Korean airlines are facing further challenges after the government imposed stricter entry restrictions to fight the spreading coronavirus outbreak. Korean Air Co., South Korea's biggest airline and national flag carrier, said Monday it will temporarily suspend all flights on the Incheon-Beijing route from Saturday to April 25, leaving only three routes available to China. The move comes as China steps up efforts to keep out imported COVID-19 cases. On Sunday, the Chinese aviation author

March 24, 2020

SsangYong Motor aims to leap ahead with self-rescue plan

Cash-strapped SsangYong Motor said Monday it is seeking to reengineer its business with a strengthened self-rescue plan to race back on the road to profitability. The South Korean unit of Indian carmaker Mahindra and Mahindra -- which held two rounds of negotiations with the labor union last year -- has been focusing on normalizing its business. To improve its fiscal health, the automaker’s employees have agreed to reduce or stop 22 welfare benefits -- such as support for medical cost a

March 23, 2020

Eastar grounds flights for 1 month over coronavirus

Hit by a severe drop in passengers and suspension of international routes over the coronavirus pandemic, South Korean budget carrier Eastar Jet announced Sunday it will halt all services starting next week. The low-cost-carrier has decided to halt all flights to Jeju Island from Gimpo, Cheongju and Gunsan airports from Tuesday.  They were the only routes that the air carrier has been operating since March 9, after its Japanese flights were shut down following entry restrictions on Korean

March 22, 2020

Hyundai Mobis develops radar-using passenger detecting technology

Hyundai Mobis said Sunday it has developed a radar-using rear occupant alert system that will be adopted by new models of global carmakers. According to the auto parts making unit of Hyundai Motor Group, ROA is a system that was developed based on radar that uses sensors for autonomous driving. It is built on a software algorithm that detects even the most minute movements of a passenger in the rear seat. The radar of ROA can analyze a variety of bio-signals by penetrating a person’s bl

March 22, 2020

Eastar Jet to shut down all flights over novel coronavirus

South Korean low-cost carrier Eastar Jet Co. will shut down all of its flights, company officials said Saturday, amid a travel slump triggered by the novel coronavirus pandemic.    Eastar Jet will halt operation of its domestic flights from Tuesday to April 25, according to the officials. The budget carrier already suspended all of its international flights earlier this month.    Eastar Jet will be the first South Korean airline to close all of its air services due to the

March 21, 2020

Hyundai Rotem wins 345b won train order in S. Korea

Hyundai Rotem Co., a South Korean railway system and plant equipment maker, said Friday it has received an order worth 345 billion won ($274 million) in its home country. Hyundai Rotem will supply 120 subway train cars for a new local subway line named the Great Train Express-A (GTX-A) by 2024, the company said in a statement. The GTX-A line will stretch 83.1 kilometers from Unjeong Station in Paju to Dongtan Station in Hwaseong in Gyeonggi Province, it said.  The subway trains will be bu

March 20, 2020

[Newsmaker] Chung Euisun elected as chair of Hyundai Motor Group board

Hyundai Motor Group Executive Vice Chairman Chung Euisun has been elected the new chairperson of the group’s board of directors, in an apparent move to give the heir apparent more managerial power as he seeks to strengthen the future mobility vision. According to the company, it was decided for Chung to succeed his father, Hyundai Motor Group Chairman Chung Mong-koo, in his chairmanship during a board of directors meeting held Thursday. The senior Chung has held the position for 21 year

March 19, 2020

Asiana Airlines sends chartered flight to bring Koreans from Iran

South Korean full-service carrier Asiana Airlines said Thursday that it has sent a chartered flight to bring back some 80 South Koreans stuck in Iran, where the COVID-19 has been rapidly spreading.  Asiana Airlines said 80 Koreans left Tehran, Iran, to board a chartered flight in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. The flight departed the Al Maktoum International Airport, some 37 kilometers from Dubai, on Thursday morning and arrived at Incheon International Airport at 4:35 p.m. Ministry data s

March 19, 2020

[Weekender] Hyundai or Mercedes-Benz: Why is Korea’s car market so polarised?

It is not an exaggeration to say that out of every 10 cars you encounter on the roads of South Korea, six or seven of them are Hyundai or Mercedes-Benz. Although car brands and models have diversified over the years in a country where a car is owned by every 2.4 people, the brand everyone thinks of when it comes to domestic cars is Hyundai. In the case of imported cars, Mercedes-Benz maintains the largest share of the pie. Despite the latest coronavirus pandemic, sales of imported vehicles co

March 19, 2020

Airlines halt more flights as coronavirus spreads

South Korean airlines are halting more flights as countries increasingly imposed entry restrictions in their fight against the spread of the novel coronavirus. Korean Air Lines Co., the country's biggest airline and national flag carrier, said Thursday it will begin reducing the number of flights to three per week from seven on the Incheon-Paris route. The latest move comes as European countries close their borders and restrict movement in an effort to slow the spread of COVID-19. Korean Air

March 19, 2020

S. Korean carmakers face shutdown of overseas plants amid virus fears

South Korean carmakers are likely to shut down their overseas plants as their global peers are planning to close factories as a precaution against the rapid spread of coronavirus. Local carmakers already suffered production losses due to a lack of parts when their suppliers in China suspended plants due to an extended Lunar New Year holiday amid fears of COVID-19 infections. The worsening outbreak is now dealing a further blow to the automobile industry as Ford Motor Co., General Motors Co.

March 19, 2020

Korea to inject W50b to help virus-hit transport sector

The South Korean government is injecting some 50 billion won ($40.4 million) to help the virus-hit transport industry here, by exempting fees and delaying payment to cover the businesses’ losses caused by a sharp drop in passengers.  In a meeting for crisis management measures presided by the country’s deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Hong Nam-ki on Wednesday, the government confirmed a set of measures to support industries hit by the coronavirus outbreak, primarily

March 18, 2020

Hyundai Motor unveils all-new Avante in US

Hyundai Motor on Wednesday unveiled its seventh-generation sedan Avante in Los Angeles at its world premiere event.  The event was livestreamed in major markets including South Korea, North America, China and Australia, without any audience, over the coronavirus concerns.  Avante has been the automaker’s steady-selling sedan over the past 30 years -- sold as Elantra in North America.  Hyundai Motor said the upgraded model has focused on showing an innovative, futuristic

March 18, 2020

Hyundai Mobis shareholders OK heir apparent as executive director

South Korea's biggest auto parts maker and a key affiliate of Hyundai Motor Group, on Wednesday approved the reappoinment of the group's heir apparent to the company's board to push forward his future mobility initiative. In a general meeting, Hyundai Mobis shareholders voted to accept the company's board's reappointment of Hyundai Motor Group Executive Vice Chairman Chung Euisun as executive director.   They also approved the board's decision to extend the term of former Opel Chief

March 18, 2020

Virus-hit aviation sector to get more support

  South Korea said Wednesday it will delay reclaiming traffic rights and allocated slots from airlines, while cutting landing fees and other charges, amid the escalating coronavirus impact on the aviation sector. Airlines have suspended most of their flights on international routes this month as people opt not to travel and more than 150 countries and territories impose entry restrictions on passengers from South Korea out of concerns over the spread of COVID-19. The transportation minis

March 18, 2020

Virus threatens to hit state airport, rail, highway operators

The coronavirus outbreak threatens to batter South Korea's state airport, railway and highway operators due to tumbling demand for travel, data showed Wednesday. The spread of the respiratory disease, whose first confirmed case in South Korea was reported on Jan. 20, has halted almost all flights to and from South Korea, cut the number of train passengers in half and made a big dent in vehicle traffic on highways. According to the data that Rep. An Ho-young of the ruling Democratic Party rece

March 18, 2020