China asks airline to change name after plane crash

BEIJING - China’s Henan province has asked the commercial carrier whose plane crashed during landing, killing 42 people Tuesday, not to use the word “Henan” in its name in a bid to protect the province’s image.

The Henan Administration for Industry and Commerce announced late Friday that it has ordered a change of name of the airline back to Kunpeng Airlines, which had been changed to Henan Airlines in September 2009, Xinhua reported.

Officials said the name misled the public and tarnished the province’s image.

The airline’s name had “cast an extremely adverse impact” on the province, which does not have an interest in the company and the administration is justified by law to revoke any name change of a company which is either misleading or harms the province’s interest, a statement said.

A passenger aircraft of Henan Airlines crashed while landing at the airport in Yichun city in Heilongjiang province late Tuesday night, killing 42 people and injuring 54.