Korean Company Delivering Cargo, 'SK Hanggong'

On charter flights deployed by SK Innovation to secure manpower for overseas business sites,

domestic large, medium, and small businesspeople were also onboard

"Overcoming the crisis requires helping each other"

[Asia Economy Reporter Park So-yeon] SK Innovation is becoming the wings for Korean large, medium, and small businesspeople suffering from a shortage of flights due to the COVID-19 pandemic. On the charter flights deployed to secure manpower for overseas business sites, not only SK Innovation employees but also employees from competitors and partner companies are being urgently dispatched together.

According to related industries on the 12th, SK Innovation has operated a total of three charter flights to its business sites located in Hungary and China from last month to the present, transporting a total of 87 Korean businesspeople in addition to its own employees.

The first transport of Korean businesspeople was the Hungary-bound flight on the 16th of last month. At that time, SK Innovation urgently dispatched technical personnel for the expansion of its electric vehicle battery plant in Hungary and also carried 35 employees from its competitor Samsung SDI. This month, SK Innovation operated charter flights twice to transport domestic personnel to overseas business sites. On the 3rd, the SK charter flight to Shenzhen, China, carried 17 employees from small and medium-sized enterprises. The next day (4th), the charter flight to Changzhou, China, carried 35 employees from Mando's Suzhou corporation, an automotive parts company.

Despite the ongoing COVID-19 situation, Korean companies including SK Innovation have shown strong determination to overcome the crisis, and overseas government officials have reportedly shown active goodwill. Recently, when the SK charter flight arrived at Changzhou Airport, senior officials from the local Chinese government came out to welcome SK and other Korean businesspeople.

An SK Innovation official said, "Domestic companies operating overseas are currently suffering from manpower shortages, logistics disruptions, and raw material supply issues," adding, "Even if we are business competitors, in this unprecedented crisis caused by COVID-19, domestic companies should help each other."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.