Airline Makes Big Typo On Their Own Plane

Who's never made a typo, right? Lord knows we've all seen plenty of typos right here on FMyLife! At least the consequences aren't this big for most of us...
Hong Kong airline Cathay Pacific learned the value of proofreading the hard way this week when they sent out a Boeing-777 with a giant typo splashed across the side of the machine. The "Cathay Paciic" made a trip from Xiamen to Hong Kong before the error was caught.
The airline wasn't so embarrassed that they couldn't have a little laugh over the incident, tweeting "Oops this special livery won't last long! She's going back to the shop!"
Oops this special livery won’t last long! She’s going back to the shop!
— Cathay Pacific (@cathaypacific) September 19, 2018
(Source: HKADB) pic.twitter.com/20SRQpKXET
Their image source, HKADB, is the Hong Kong Aviation Discussion Board, a Facebook group.
The cause of this mistake is still unknown, and some people find the circumstances suspicious. An engineer associated with Cathay Pacific told the South China Morning Post that "The spacing is too on-point for a mishap. We have stencils. Should be a blank gap in between letters if it was a real mistake I think." But then a spokesperson for Cathay Pacific reportedly told CNN that "We did not intend to make it a big fuss in the first place, but photos went viral within the aviation enthusiastic groups, so we just shared the hilarious moment with everyone."
And everyone had a lot to say about it.
Shop? Bah, put a little ^ and an f above it.
— darren (@darrenpauli) September 19, 2018
Press F to pay respects
— Scoot (@flyscoot) September 20, 2018
— Kevin (@kevinjia1122) September 19, 2018
No f's were given that day
— Aghiad Haloul (@AghiadHaloul) September 19, 2018
I’m not sure why this is not funny to me. I fly Cathay and to me this just shows a breakdown in quality - no humor (and I’m a funny guy đ). Not something I think should be so blatantly and proudly publicized on a brand I spend money to support. How much did this “mistake” cost?
— Mike Cooper (@mcooperatl) September 19, 2018
Great that you can have a laugh about this in public đAir travel need to lighten up. Kudos.
— Vimal Rai (@virgovim) September 19, 2018
What do you think? Was this a genuine mistake or a weird viral publicity stunt? Does this indicate that other (more serious) things are being overlooked at the company or is it just a independent little goof?