More like good marketing, funny if true mistake (really?), good marketing if not, as somebody on the bbc page said, shove a ^ and a F in and let it run.
It was in Xiamen (XMN) to have new livery applied, I suppose asking a Chinese speaker to proof read English is a bit like asking the average UK resident to proof read Chinese. Anyway, well done Cathay PR for making the most of it.