Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) is under fire over a promotional graphic that appears to evoke a terrorist attack in Paris.
The graphic, published on the social network today”.
Although the graphic was intended to promote the new twice-weekly flights between Islamabad and Paris, social media users quickly drew parallels to the 2001 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center in New York and called on the airline to rethink its approach.
“Fire your marketing director,” wrote one user, while another asked: “Who thought this ad was a good idea?”
Omar Quraishi, former media advisor to Pakistani politician Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, also questioned the state-owned airline in a post on X.
“Did the airline management not look into this? Did the idiot who drew this graphic not see a PIA plane heading towards the Eiffel Tower? One of the most iconic landmarks in Europe,” he wrote.
“Truly speechless,” he added. “And it’s still there!”
According to Pakistani media, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has ordered an inquiry into how the ad was approved for publication.
Despite the controversy, PIA’s first flight from Islamabad to Paris in four and a half years landed safely on January 11, according to an airline post on X.
A special plane with “commemorative decals” was used for the flight, the airline added, noting that it “was pleasantly received by airport staff.”
CNN reached out to PIA for comment but did not receive a response.
This is not the first time the airline has attracted international headlines in recent years.
In 2019, PIA announced it was cracking down on what it called “excess weight” among some of its cabin crew.
A memo distributed to approximately 1,800 cabin crew said they had six months to lose weight to the required limits or they could be removed from the air.
In 2020, PIA suspended almost a third of its pilots after a government investigation revealed that hundreds of pilots across the country had fake licenses and were unqualified to fly.
