KARACHI: Days after it resumed flights to Europe after a four year gap, Pakistan’s flag carrier apologised for its advert of a plane flying at the Eiffel Tower, published to mark the first flight to Paris.

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

The graphic, initially shared on Jan 10, quickly went viral. While some social media users responded with humor, others criticised the design.

In thousands of comments on­­line, users drew comparisons with Al-Qaeda’s Sept 11, 2001 attacks on New York’s Twin Tow­ers, when two planes were hija­cked and flown into the skyscrapers.

“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 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.

Finance Minister Ishaq Dar said the prime minister has ordered an inquiry into the advert which “shows stupidity”.

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

In a statement sent to Dawn.com, the spokesman 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 statement said.

With input from AFP

Published in Dawn, January 18th, 2025