Cathay Pacific has given visitors to Hong Kong airport a surprise by spelling its name wrong on the side of a plane. The Boeing 777-367 was emblazoned with the words “Cathay Paciic”.

The company’s social media team saw the funny side of the error, tweeting that the plane was being sent back to be repainted.

Oops this special livery won’t last long! She’s going back to the shop!

(Source: HKADB) pic.twitter.com/20SRQpKXET — Cathay Pacific (@cathaypacific) September 19, 2018

The image had been posted on the Hong Kong Aviation Discussion Board, a Facebook group for plane spotters.

While the airline insisted the spelling error was a mistake, some had their doubts. An engineer for Haeco, a maintenance company operating in the region, told the South China Morning Post: “The spacing is too on point for a mishap. We have stencils. [There] should be a blank gap in between letters if it was a real mistake.”

The plane had been flying overnight from Xiamen in China, where Haeco carries out maintenance for the airline. It arrived in Hong Kong in the early hours of Wednesday morning, having been part of the fleet since 2004.

Social media users were quick to joke about the mishap.

No f's were given that day — Aghiad Haloul (@AghiadHaloul) September 19, 2018

I guess the 'F' isn't working on someone's keyboard... — derekzappia (@derekzappia) September 19, 2018

What f-stop setting did you use to take this photo? — Daryl Sng (@dsng) September 19, 2018

The airline’s in-flight entertainment manager also got in on the act.