Pakistan International Airlines: Airline slammed for 'threatening new 9/11' in controversial advert showing plane flying towards Eiffel Tower

Some said the advert, which was posted on the official X account of Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) on 10 January, bears similarities to imagery of the 9/11 terror attacks. The advert shows the plane heading towards the French landmark alongside the words "Paris, we're coming today".

It was meant to mark the return of direct flights to Europe after a four-year ban over safety standards was lifted. But some on social media said the ad was reminiscent of imagery of the 9/11 terror attacks in the US, when hijacked planes crashed into the twin towers of the World Trade Center in New York and the Pentagon in Washington DC.

One user wrote: "Who thought this ad was a good idea?". Omar Quraishi, a former media adviser to Pakistani politician Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, also questioned the thinking behind the ad. He said: "Did the idiot who designed this graphic not see a PIA plane heading for the Eiffel Tower? One of Europe's iconic landmarks”.

Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has now ordered an inquiry to determine how the controversial advert was allowed to be published, according to local media. Restrictions on PIA flights to Europe were imposed in 2020 by the European Union's aviation safety agency after 97 people died when a PIA plane crashed in Karachi in southern Pakistan.

Then aviation minister Ghulam Sarwar Khan said an investigation into the crash found that nearly a third of Pakistani pilots had cheated on their pilot's exams. A government probe later concluded the crash was caused by pilot error.