Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) apologised on Friday for an advert of a plane flying at the Eiffel Tower, published to mark the first flight to Paris after a safety ban was lifted.

The image posted by PIA to social media showed a plane aimed at the French landmark with the caption “Paris, we’re coming today”.

In thousands of comments online, users drew comparisons with the 2001 Al-Qaeda attacks on New York’s Twin Towers, when two planes were hijacked and flown into the skyscrapers, killing nearly 3,000.

Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden was killed in Abbottabad by US special forces in 2011, while a Pakistani militant currently held in Guantanamo Bay is considered the chief mastermind of the attack.

“Unfortunately, this was blown out of proportion with connations and perceptions that were not intended,” PIA spokesman Abdullah Khan told AFP.

“It might have triggered some negative emotion, for which we truly apologise.” He said there were around 60,00 to 70,000 negative reactions online or less than 10 per cent of engagement.

“Is this [an] advertisement or threat?” said one post under the advert, which has not been taken down.

“I’d have a word with your marketing department on this one chief,” said another.

Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar said in Tuesday’s Senate session that the prime minister ordered an inquiry into the advert which “shows stupidity”.

The ad was also slammed by coalition ally PPP Senator Sherry Rehman.

But the spokesperson said the response to PIA’s return to Europe was “extremely positive”, with flights so far operating at more than 95pc capacity.

A similar statement to Dawn.com said: “PIA’s Paris campaign involved multiple mediums. We ran TV commercials, radio ads and a print ad (this one). All were received extremely positively resulting in great reach and consequently, our loads have picked up on the Paris sector.

“The total collective reach of this ad alone is 30 million now with 755,000 reactions out of which only 10pc were negative. The negative were triggered by a smear campaign that was started from across the border, concocting a connotation which was and can never be intended.”

It added that the connotations and perception that arose “quite frankly were never perceived in that way by anyone. However still, if it has triggered any negative emotions, we would like to sincerely apologise”.

Debt-ridden PIA was banned in June 2020 from flying to the European Union, United Kingdom and the United States, a month after one of its Airbus A-320s plunged into a Karachi street, killing nearly 100 people.

The disaster was attributed to human error by the pilots and air traffic control and was followed by allegations that nearly a third of the licences for its pilots were fake or dubious.

In 2016, a PIA plane burst into flames after one of its two turboprop engines failed during a flight from the remote north to Islamabad, killing more than 40 people.

In November, the European Union Aviation Safety Agency announced it had lifted the ban, however, it remains barred from flying to the United Kingdom and the United States.

At the time, it said it had “re-established sufficient confidence” in the Pakistan Civil Aviation Authority’s oversight capabilities.

The airline flies to multiple cities domestically, including the mountainous north, as well as to the Gulf and Southeast Asia.