Asiana Airlines has announced plans to sue a local San Francisco TV station that erroneously reported a series of false and offensive names for the pilots of the ill-fated Flight 214, which last week crash-landed at San Francisco airport. Asiana says that the mistake, made by San Francisco’s KTVU-TV, has damaged the airline’s reputation and tarnished an otherwise spotless record.

A newsreader for the station last week reported that the names of the flight’s pilots were Sum Ting Wong, Wi Tu Lo, Ho Lee Fuk and Bang Dong Ow.

Producers for KTVU were unsure of exactly how the mistake was made, but apologised profusely, saying that no offense was intended and that the names had not been read out loud prior to the live broadcast.

But Asiana doesn’t believe that apology is enough, and is seeking damages from the station, which it says has single-handedly deterred customers from flying with it.

“While we accept their apology, the fact remains that KTVU-TV has instilled in its viewers a false belief that Asiana chooses pilots whose names foreshadow terrible accidents,” said Asiana spokeswoman Lee Hyomin. “We believe that this has scared away countless potential customers, who would not otherwise have been deterred by any incident that we can think of.”

Since last week, Asiana has seen the number of bookings made on its flights drop dramatically, and it is widely believed that this has been a direct result of KTVU’s erroneous reporting.