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

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

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

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

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

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,

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

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

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

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

The global carmaker Volvo is rejuvenating its brand image in South Korea via successful collaborations with popular dramas and variety shows. In the currently airing tvN drama “It’s Okay to Not Be Okay,” starring Seo Ye-ji and Kim Soo-hyun, Volvo’s premium sports utility vehicle XC90 and S90, a mid-sized luxury sedan, are heavily featured, gliding along the coastal roads of Goseong, Gangwon Province. The Volvo cars have also stood out on other TV programs, with popula

Budget airlines turn to in-country flights to cope with impact of coronavirus

Hyundai Motor confirmed Tuesday it is seeking to acquire General Motors’ production facility in St. Petersburg, Russia. “We are discussing acquisition of the plant with GM,” a Hyundai official said. The South Korean carmaker has sought approval from the antitrust agency in Russia, an essential measure to take over the factory. The agency will decide on granting permission if it does not violate the law. The St. Petersburg plant opened in 2008 with an investment of about $30

Taihan Electric Wire said Monday it has signed a 92.5 billion won ($77.3 million) contract with the UK’s National Grid to supply underground cables and accessories for the London Power Tunnel 2. It is the largest electric grid project to be undertaken by a Korean cable manufacturer in the country, and the company had to fend off stiff competition from other bidders. The bidding process lasted for over a year. “We are excited that we will play a big part in this large-scale, long-te

Market pessimism over HDC Hyundai Development Company’s purchase plan of the country’s second-largest airline grew Monday, with Asiana Airlines stocks plunging. Shares of the airline closed at 3,560 won ($2.98) on Monday, down 2.86 percent from the previous session. However, HDC shares remained almost unchanged and were being traded at 33,100 won. The drop in stock price comes as HDC, which leads a consortium with Mirae Asset Daewoo to take over Asiana, called for another round of