The carrier, based in a central China province with the same name, was previously known as Kunpeng Airlines and was only renamed Henan Airlines last year. It is run by the Shenzhen-based Shenzhen Airlines.
China had kept a remarkable air travel safety record of about 2,100 days -- or 69 months -- without accidents before Tuesday's tragedy, statistics from the CAAC show.
In November 2004, a CRJ-200 jet crashed shortly after take-off into a park in Baotou City, Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, killing all 53 people on board and two others on the ground.
The jet was owned by China Eastern Airlines, one of China's top three carriers.