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Pakistan

PIA apologises for controversial Eiffel Tower advert

  • Pakistan national airline draws criticism over ad published to mark first flight to Paris after safety ban lifted
Published January 17, 2025

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s national airline 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 state-owned Pakistan International Airlines (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.

“Unfortunately, this was blown out of proportion with connotation 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% 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.

PIA flights’ resumption to Europe will prove to be milestone: Aleem

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

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

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.

PIA adds long-grounded ATR aircraft to operational duty

In November, the European Union Aviation Safety Agency announced it had lifted the ban, however it remains barred from flying in the UK 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 inside Pakistan, including the mountainous north, as well as to the Gulf and Southeast Asia.

Comments

200 characters
Yaqoot Mir Jan 17, 2025 09:11pm
NO NEED TO APOLOGIZE due to the idiots on Social media. Go on! Pakistan Zindabad, great to see our national airline making strides and clawing back its business Space again.
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Anwar Jan 17, 2025 09:55pm
PIA APOLOGY NOT ACCEPTED. WHAT WAS THE PURPOSE OF THIS ADVERT. HOW COULD PIA ( DEBT RIDDEN ) SQUANDERED MONEY. MUST PUBILICALLY INFORM THE AMOUNT SPENT ON THESE ADVERTISEMENTS.
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Iftikhar Ahmad Mayo Jan 18, 2025 12:03am
I am glad that ADR ODR International is bringing this specialised training in Family Mediation to Pakistan. Looking forward to the impact of this training in our Mediation World!" Family structures in Pakistan have changed massively in the last two decades, and family disputes tend to be bitterly fought in Courts. A Mediator therefore needs to be very careful, cautious and deft when dealing in Family matters. This requires additional and special training
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ManzoorHussain Jan 18, 2025 12:22am
Karobar k liy loan Lena Chahta Hoon
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zh Jan 18, 2025 01:10am
Shehbaz promised to investigate this ad. Was he serious or it was just a lie to earn some cookie points.
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