Incredulous: Cathay Pacific Paints Jet With Misspelled Name

Incredulous: Cathay Pacific Paints Jet With Misspelled Name

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Planes undergo maintenance all the time, and undergo heavy maintenance every few years. During this time it’s normal for airplanes to be repainted, both so the planes look “fresher,” and also to reflect any updated branding the airline may have. For example, a couple of years ago Cathay Pacific introduced new branding and a new livery, and they’re still in the process of repainting all their planes with this new livery.

Well, it looks like one of those paint jobs didn’t go quite as planned. I guess mistakes can happen with just about anything, no matter how simple, right?

A Cathay Pacific Boeing 777-300 (with registration code B-HNO) that has been flying for the airline since 2004 recently got a new paint job. On September 19 the plane flew from Xiamen to Hong Kong, as presumably that work is done in Xiamen.

The plane was back in Hong Kong and ready to enter service when they noticed something wasn’t quite right with the livery:

At first I assumed this had to be a prank, because presumably they couldn’t get something this wrong? Like even if they weren’t looking at the individual letters, doesn’t the gap between the two words look way smaller than usual?

But nope, Cathay Pacific has confirmed on Twitter that this really happened, and it looks like their short term solution is to cover up the last “IC” of the name to save face until the plane gets repainted. Hah.

Kudos to Cathay Pacific for at least having a good sense of humor about this and poking fun at the situation.

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  1. Roland Higgins New Member

    What does it look like on the other side of the fuselage?

  2. Paolo Diamond

    Reminds me of Nury Vittachi’s column in the ( sadly no longer ) Far Eastern Economic Review; he covered all of this kind of mangled English and in a very funny way.

  3. AW Guest

    I've seen huge and amusing typos before but this seemes excessive...

  4. deepeepdx Member

    Sum Ting Wong!
    For the record, I’m Korean-Japanese.
    I’d say it’s an honest mistake in a city where “Chinglish” is common. Sinitic and Indo-European languages are vastly different. That being said, someone’s head will have to roll to save “face.”

  5. Chuck Lesker Guest

    While the word intended is probably "incredible", "incredulous" is not totally wrong, it could be shorthand for "I can't believe this!"

  6. Chase Guest

    Also came here wondering about the use of the word "incredulous."

  7. Mark Guest

    @Stvr we had the same thought!

  8. Robert Diamond

    Most likely a paint contractor, they realized the error but needed the plane out on a route anyway.

  9. flyben Guest

    Is it their secret of doing this to announce their new destination to Hawa"ii" ;-)

  10. Mark Guest

    You can be "incredulous".

    The event of this occurring is "incredible."

    That said, "incredulous" does not "stunned, amazed, floored."

    It means skeptical.

    Maybe you didn't believe this news?

  11. Stvr Guest

    This is the second boardingarea blogger in a month to totally misuse the word incredulous. What’s in the water at your headquarters?

  12. Bob New Member

    But I mean the plane doesn't have F class anyways

  13. William Y. Guest

    HK, there is nothing racist about asking for someone who can work to the barest minimum of Western standards.

  14. Not Lucky Guest

    Since this is one of my pet peeves... You can be incredulous, but it is incredible (or something else).

  15. eskimo Guest

    Who signed off for the job should get fired. The planes should never made its way back to Hong Kong like this.

  16. Chuck Lesker Guest

    This is an early indicator that they are eliminating F from their entire fleet.

  17. William Y. Guest

    Speaking from a branding perspective, it unfortunately just enforces a negative stereotype of Chinese being sloppy drones who will cut corners wherever possible, come hell or high water.

    Therefore, while is fun in some circles, it will not reflect well on the brand *at all*. It seriously leads to doubts about what other glaring mistakes they don't catch.

  18. Debit Guest

    I like sung's idea.

    They would be fools to change this. This plane will become a meme all by own.

  19. Sung Diamond

    They should make it iconic by simply putting a ^ and F over it. It would make it an unique livery within the fleet, and some publicity.

  20. JL100 Guest

    henry LAX - good one!!!

  21. Santastico Diamond

    The template is clearly letter by letter and not the entire word. Someone missed the F.

  22. mcdullhk88 Guest

    Well, B-HNO has regional configuration (C42Y356) without F class.

  23. henry LAX Guest

    CX just simply doesn't give a F anymore

  24. AJO Guest

    @VT-CIE: Paki (OK, with a k) is racial slur for Pakistani.

  25. JB Guest

    Nonstop Dan just uploaded a video on youtube of Cathay Pacific and he flew on this same plane lol.

  26. VT-CIE Diamond

    @AJO: What does Pakistan have to do with it?

  27. LAXJeff Guest

    How the F does this even happen?

  28. AJO Guest

    Now let’s see if they deploy this frame to LHE/KHI/ISB...

  29. Tim Guest

    that plane is NOT f'd up

  30. Alvin Diamond

    Hah, more like B-OHNO...I thought it was a prank when I first saw this too!

  31. AST Guest

    They will definitely not change contractor. The current contractor also belongs to Swire Group, which owns CX.

  32. W Guest

    And no one saw this at the paint shop?

  33. Kevin Guest

    Probably should find a new paint contractor who speaks English...

Featured Comments Most helpful comments ( as chosen by the OMAAT community ).

The comments on this page have not been provided, reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by any advertiser, and it is not an advertiser's responsibility to ensure posts and/or questions are answered.

Roland Higgins New Member

What does it look like on the other side of the fuselage?

0
Paolo Diamond

Reminds me of Nury Vittachi’s column in the ( sadly no longer ) Far Eastern Economic Review; he covered all of this kind of mangled English and in a very funny way.

0
AW Guest

I've seen huge and amusing typos before but this seemes excessive...

0
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