Society

Air carrier suspends operations after plane crash

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2010-08-26 01:41

ZHENGZHOU - A day after the deadly plane crash in northeast China, the company of the aircraft on Wednesday cancelled all its flights for safety reviews, local officials said.

The operations of Henan Airlines, based in a central China province with the same name, would be suspended for an unspecific time, said Wu Zhenkun, an official with Henan provincial aviation regulatory committee.

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Wu said it is not yet settled when the operations can resume.

The suspension of flights triggered complaints from air travelers in Zhengzhou, the capital city of Henan.

Yang Ning, a college student from the far-flung western Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, was anxiously waiting for air travel clearance.

"Our flight was expected to take off at 8:20 am. We were told the flight was canceled much later than that. And the airline gave no explaination," said Yang.

Staff from Henan Airlines said all passengers whose flights were canceled could contact the airline's ticket office for flight rearrangement.

A Henan Airline jet crashed during the landing at the airport of Yichun City, northeast China's Heilongjiang Province, Tuesday night, killing 42 and injuring other 54.

The crashed plan is an ERJ-190 jet manufactured by Brazilian aerospace conglomerate Embraer with a maximum passenger capacity of 108.

Henan Airlines owns only five aircrafts -- all ERJ-190s.

The carrier was previously known as Kunpeng Airlines and was only relaunched as Henan Airliens last year. It is run by the Shenzhen-based Shenzhen Airlines and offers mainly short-distance flight services.