Yup, you got that right. Puerile nitpicking, too. So you know the real meaning of "Take-off" and the journalist doesn't. Well done, good for you; I bet you don't know any of the jargon that journalists use about print production. Just substitute "departure", which even to aviation professionals has a variety of definitions, and get on with it. You knew exactly what the writer meant, didn't you? You showed us that, which rather defeated your protest.
When you've done that, why not come back and explain exactly why it's
a poor piece of journalism, but so typical of today's poor standards
It seemed a fairly straight-forward, balanced account to me, provided I can get over the dreadful misuse of the term "take-off".