Taiwan's Minister of Transportation, Lin Chia-lung, indicated via social media on April 11 that he would be open to renaming China Airlines (CI, Taipei Taoyuan) (CAL). The move is gathering public support after the carrier gained international media attention for rescuing trapped Taiwanese citizens in China and for distributing Taiwanese-manufactured medical supplies around the world. However, as the airline's name includes "China", there has been confusion as to whether the recent donations have come from Taiwan or the People's Republic of China.

The minister indicated that any name change would be a "big deal, involving air rights and routes," and although the Taiwanese government holds shares in CAL, it is a publically listed company. Therefore, "it must respect corporate governance and be accountable to shareholders." Lin stated that he hopes that the community can build a consensus on the proposal.

In the meantime, Lin has asked CAL to place more Taiwanese images or elements on its fleet, so that people "can get a better understanding of Taiwan and avoid confusion with China."

This is not the first time the public has called for CAL's name to change since its establishment in 1959. Suggested new names in the Taiwan Times include "Formosa Airlines", "Yushan Airlines", and "Taiwan Airlines".

According to the ch-aviation Commercial Aviation Aircraft Data module, CAL operates 88 aircraft, consisting of twenty-three A330-300s, fourteen A350-900s, nineteen B737-800s, four B747-400s, eighteen B747-400Fs, and ten B777-300ERs.