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Pakistan Airlines apologises over tone-deaf Eiffel Tower ad for Paris flights

Pakistan International Airlines has attracted widespread outrage over an ad depicting a PIA plane flying toward the Eiffel Tower, which has drawn comparisons with the 9/11 terror attacks.

Pakistan International Airlines has attracted widespread outrage over an ad depicting a PIA plane flying toward the Eiffel Tower, which has drawn comparisons with the 9/11 terror attacks.

The ad promoted the return of the Pakistan flag carrier’s flights to Paris on 10 January 2025 and contained the tagline: “Paris, we’re coming today”.

The resumed Pakistan International Airlines service marks PIA’s first link between Islamabad and Paris in four years.

The ad image has been widely shared on social media platforms, such as X and Reddit, eliciting criticism and backlash for the carrier.

PIA ad on X depicting a Pakistan International Airlines aircraft flying toward the Eiffel Tower with the French flag as the backgrond.
The Pakistan International Airlines ad on X.

In thousands of comments online, commenters drew comparisons with the 2001 Al-Qaeda attacks on New York’s Twin Towers on 11 September, which killed almost 3,000 people.

Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden was killed in Pakistan by US special forces in 2011.

Pakistan’s Geo News reported that Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has ordered an investigation into the matter, while Deputy Prime Minister Ishaq Dar has also publicly criticised the ad.

Pakistan International Airlines has since apologised for the ad, which remains online on PIA’s X profile.

“Unfortunately, this was blown out of proportion with connotations and perceptions that were not intended,” PIA spokesperson Abdullah Khan told AFP, adding that the airline’s return to Europe has been “extremely positive” with flights at 95 per cent capacity.

This is not PIA’s first scandal. The state-owned airline has been criticised over safety concerns, including flight suspensions to the European Union, the US and the UK after one of its Airbus A320s crashed in Karachi in June 2020, killing nearly 100 people, and another aircraft incident in 2016.

The European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) officially lifted the EU ban on 29 November 2024, however, PIA is still barred from flying in the UK and the US.