Early bird flight tickets on sale in anticipation of overseas travel restart

E-commerce platform Interpark on Monday started offering air tickets which you can purchase now and fly after quarantine restrictions for international traveling are lifted. The “Early Go” tickets, which are for South Korean low cost carrier T’way Air flights, come with a one-year price freeze after self-quarantine is no longer required between Korea and the destination country, the platform said. Destinations include Cebu, Hanoi, Bangkok, Macau, Taipei and Hong Kong as well

March 8, 2021

[Photo News] New 2021 Ferrari Portofino M unveiled in Korea

The Portofino M is showcased for the first time in Korea at the Banpo Ferrari showroom in southern Seoul.  The brand new Italian car shows off an enhanced V8 engine with 620 electrical horsepower, upgrading from the previous edition with 600 electrical horsepower.  The sleek model boasts its luxury with a smooth, yet stylish design. (Photos : Yonhap) By Yoon Chae-won (choenayoon@heraldcorp.com)

March 6, 2021

S. Korea to invest W115b on aviation tech to overcome virus fallout

South Korea said Friday it plans to invest 115.3 billion won ($102 million) this year to study deeper into state-of-the-art aviation technologies as it vowed to spare no efforts to help local companies to overcome the new coronavirus pandemic. The announcement is in line with the country's 10-year development plan, which centers on supporting related businesses to make headway not only in the civil aviation segment, but also in the military and drone industries as well, according to the Ministr

March 5, 2021

Korean Air set to sell Songhyeon-dong plot to Seoul City

Korean Air reached a tentative agreement with the city of Seoul to sell a plot of land in central Seoul, according to industry sources Thursday. The airline is expected to secure about 450 billion won to 550 billion won ($399 million to $488 million) in cash from the deal. Industry officials said Seoul and the flag carrier are close to finalizing contract terms for the property sale located in Songhyeon-dong, in the central district of Jongno, as early as next week. As part of its efforts to

March 4, 2021

Hyundai Glovis forges tie with China’s Changjiu Logistics

Hyundai Glovis is forging ties with a Chinese logistics company to expand and strengthen its logistics business from China to Europe, the firm said Wednesday. As part of the partnership deal, China’s Changjiu Logistics has bought from Hyundai Glovis a 30 percent stake in Adampol, a Poland-based company that Hyundai Glovis acquired in 2014. Hyundai said the two companies will join forces to launch a new railroad transport brand, dubbed ECT, or Euro China Train. As shipping costs are sp

March 3, 2021

S. Korea unveils additional support to virus-hit airlines

South Korea on Wednesday unveiled another set of measures to support airlines hit hard by the COVID-19 pandemic in the latest move to help airlines stay afloat during the crisis. The government will continue to reduce the airport usage fee for the airlines until June, the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport said in a statement, adding the fee will be lowered by 45.7 billion won ($40.6 million). The ministry said it will later consider whether to extend the fee reduction again by tak

March 3, 2021

Hyundai Motor's US sales dip 8.8% in Feb. on bad weather

LOS ANGELES -- South Korea's leading automaker Hyundai Motor Co. saw its US sales drop nearly 9 percent in February from a year earlier due to bad weather, company data showed Tuesday. Hyundai Motor sold 48,333 vehicles last month, down 8.8 percent from a year earlier, according to the data from Hyundai Motor America, the firm's US subsidiary. Sales to general consumers fell 2 percent on-year, and those to companies and rental car providers plunged 47 percent. Hyundai Motor said this year's F

March 3, 2021

Hyundai Motor reports change of leadership to FTC

Hyundai Motor has filed a request to the Fair Trade Commission to change the company’s leader from honorary chairman Chung Mong-koo to his son Chung Euisun, according to industry sources Tuesday. If the FTC accepts the request, the corporation would get its first new chief in 21 years. Every May, the FTC releases a list of major conglomerates with aggregate value over 5 trillion won ($4.4 billion), and also those valued at over 10 trillion won and subject to mutual investment restricti

March 2, 2021

Hyundai Motor Group begins construction of fuel cell system plant in China

Hyundai Motor Group began construction of its first overseas fuel cell system plant in China, holding a virtual ground breaking ceremony on Tuesday. HTWO Guangzhou is the automaker’s first foreign plant producing fuel cell systems, and the construction is expected to be complete by the second half of 2022. HTWO is the group’s fuel cell system brand. The ceremony to market the official start of the construction work connected officials at Hyundai Motor Studio Goyang in Gyeonggi P

March 2, 2021

Mercedes-Benz Korea adds Maybach SUV to lineup

Mercedes-Benz Korea on Tuesday added its most luxurious SUV model to the lineup to gain a bigger share in the South Korean market. The German carmaker has launched the Mercedes-Maybach GLS 600 4MATIC SUV equipped with a twin-turbo, 4.0-liter V8 M177 engine at 257 million won ($230,000), the company said in a statement. "The new Mercedes-Maybach GLS is a fascinating model that will draw the attention of customers who want a high-end SUV. We will continue to provide the best products this

March 2, 2021

Hyundai Motor says sales of IONIQ 5 in Europe show solid start

Hyundai Motor Co.'s preorders of its IONIQ 5 all-electric model in Europe showed a solid start, with the carmaker selling 3,000 units in advance orders. According to Hyundai's affiliates in Europe, about 10,000 people applied to buy the electric car in preorders for the IONIQ 5, the first model embedded with Hyundai's own EV-only electric-global modular platform (E-GMP). The move is likely to help Hyundai and its affiliate Kia Motors increase sales of electric cars in Europe. Last week, Hyund

Feb. 28, 2021

Hyundai IONIQ 5 set to log solid sales

Hyundai Motor Co.'s IONIQ 5 all-electric model is receiving strong responses in the domestic market, with its first-day preorders exceeding 23,000 units, the country's top automaker said Friday. Hyundai started receiving orders for the IONIQ 5 midsize crossover utility vehicle Thursday well ahead of the model's launch in the domestic market in the second quarter, the company said in a statement. Preorders for the IONIQ 5, the first model embedded with Hyundai Motor Group's own EV-only electri

Feb. 26, 2021

Jeep to launch drive-through event to celebrate 80th anniversary

SUV brand Jeep said on Thursday it will launch a drive-thru event next month to celebrate the company’s 80th anniversary. The American carmaker, founded in 1941, will kick off the event on March 3 along with a limited-edition release of six of its models to mark the occasion. The brand’s signature vehicles will also be put on display for 10 days in the Seongsu-dong neighborhood in Seoul. During the event, customers will have a chance to enjoy consultation services as well as partic

Feb. 25, 2021

T'way Air's net losses widen in 2020 on pandemic

T'way Air, a South Korean low-cost carrier, on Thursday reported widened losses last year due to the coronavirus' impact on the airline industry. Net losses deepened to 137.87 billion won ($124 million) in 2020 from 43.21 billion won a year earlier, the company said in a regulatory filing. Operating losses also widened to 174.31 billion won last year from 19.24 billion won the previous year. Sales fell 66 percent to 269.22 billion won from 810.45 billion won over the cited period, it said.

Feb. 25, 2021

Hyundai wins most 2021 Top Safety Pick awards

South Korean automaking giant Hyundai Motor Group said Thursday it has earned the most Top Safety Pick awards from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS). Hyundai Motor Co., Hyundai's independent brand Genesis and affiliate Kia Corp. received 12 Top Safety Pick (TSP) and five Top Safety Pick+ (TSP+) ratings from the IIHS in its latest round of crash-testing evaluations, a Hyundai spokesman said. Hyundai's Palisade SUV and Nexo hydrogen fuel-cell electric vehicle, Kia's K5 sedan and

Feb. 25, 2021

Hyundai Motor to recall Kona electric cars over fire risk

Hyundai Motor will replace the battery systems in about 82,000 electric vehicles sold here and abroad due to fire risks, the company announced Wednesday. The voluntary recall, which affects three electric vehicle models -- Kona, Ioniq and Elec City -- comes after South Korea’s Transport Ministry said a series of fires involving Kona vehicles had most likely been caused by short circuits in defective high-voltage battery cells. The automaker will be recalling a total of 81,701 units of

Feb. 24, 2021

Incheon Airport cautiously expects ‘reverse L-shaped recovery’ as soon as later this year

Incheon International Airport Corp. said Wednesday that air travel could see a “reverse L-shaped recovery” as early as the second half of this year as the vaccine rollout speeds up in South Korea. In the most ideal scenario, IIAC said, the annual number of passengers could reach some 16.5 million, a 76.5 percent drop from 2019, but the overall pace of the recovery would remain slow and the number of passengers could be as low as 5 million by its most conservative estimate. That woul

Feb. 24, 2021

Incheon Airport to roll out rapid coronavirus tests

Incheon Airport will roll out speedy coronavirus tests from next month, cutting down the process from seven hours to two or four hours. The new loop-mediated isothermal amplification -- or LAMP-type -- rapid PCR tests, which have been approved by the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety, can take as little as two hours to show the result and have been recommended for passengers with no symptoms traveling abroad, the Incheon International Airport Corp. said Tuesday. Negative results from rapid PCR

Feb. 23, 2021

Hyundai Motor makes a splash with the all-electric Ioniq 5

Hyundai Motor unveiled the all-electric midsized sport utility vehicle Ioniq 5 on Tuesday. It is the first model to use the automaker’s own electric vehicle platform, the Electric-Global Modular Platform or E-GMP. In an online press conference, Hyundai Motor President Chang Jae-hoon and executives presented the Ioniq 5, highlighting how the new car would set the standard for an electric mobility lifestyle with sustainable and innovative features. “Electrification is the major foc

Feb. 23, 2021

Korean Air, Asiana to ground Boeing 777 after engine incident

South Korea's two biggest carriers -- Korean Air Lines Co. and Asiana Airlines Inc. -- said Monday they will ground all Boeing 777 passenger jets following a recent engine failure incident in the United States. A B777-200 plane suffered an engine failure after taking off for Honolulu on Saturday (local time), with an engine cowling and other parts from the plane found to be scattered on the ground in Denver, according to foreign media reports. The United Airlines, Inc. flight reportedly landed

Feb. 22, 2021