Pakistan International Airlines on Friday apologized for an advertisement of a plane flying over the Eiffel Tower, published on the occasion of the first flight to Paris after the safety ban was lifted.
The photo posted by PIA on social media showed a plane targeting the French landmark with the caption: “Paris, we are coming today.”
In thousands of online comments, users drew comparisons to the 2001 Al Qaeda attacks on the Twin Towers in New York, when two planes were hijacked and crashed into the skyscrapers, killing nearly 3,000 people.
Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden was killed in Abbottabad by US special forces in 2011, while a Pakistani militant currently detained at Guantanamo Bay is considered the main mastermind of the attack.
“Unfortunately, this matter has been blown out of proportion based on perceptions and perceptions that were not intended,” PIA spokesman Abdullah Khan said. Agence France-Presse.
This may have caused some negative feelings, for which we sincerely apologize.” He said there were between 60,000 and 70,000 negative reactions online, or less than 10 percent of the engagement.
“Is this an ‘advertisement’ or a threat?” said one post under the ad, which was not removed.
“I’m going to talk to your marketing department about this boss,” said another.
Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar said in the Senate session on Tuesday that the prime minister had ordered an investigation into the announcement, which “shows stupidity.”
But the response to PIA’s return to Europe has been “very positive”, with flights so far operating at more than 95% of capacity, the spokesman said.
Similar Statement “PIA’s campaign in Paris involved multiple media. We ran TV ads, radio ads and a print ad (this one). They were all received very positively resulting in great exposure and consequently, our loads in the Paris sector went up.
“The total collective reach of this ad alone now stands at 30 million with 755,000 interactions, of which only 10% were negative. The negativity resulted from a smear campaign initiated across borders, concocting a connotation that was intended and could never have been intended.”
She added that the connotations and perceptions that arose “quite frankly, no one looked at it that way.” However, if this raises any negative feelings, we would like to sincerely apologise.”
Debt-laden PIA was banned in June 2020 from flying to the European Union, the United Kingdom and the United States, a month after one of its Airbus A-320 planes crashed on a Karachi street, killing nearly 100 people.
The disaster was attributed to human error by pilots and air traffic control, and was followed by allegations that nearly a third of its pilots’ licenses were fake or questionable.
In 2016, a Pakistan International Airlines plane caught fire after one of its turbofan 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, but she remains banned from traveling to the UK and the US.
It said at the time that it had “restored sufficient confidence” in the oversight capabilities of the Pakistan Civil Aviation Authority.
The airline flies to multiple cities domestically, including the mountainous regions of the north, as well as to the Gulf and Southeast Asia.