An advertising campaign released by Pakistan International Airlines has been roundly criticised on social media for showing an aircraft appearing to fly straight into the Eiffel Tower, recalling the 9/11 attacks on New York.
The advert is intended to celebrate the resumption of flights to Europe by Pakistan International Airlines (PIA), following the lifting of a four-year safety veto imposed by the European Union’s aviation agency. It shows a PIA-liveried aircraft mid-air, tilted at an angle and in such proximity to the French capital’s iconic landmark that it has invited unfortunate comparisons with images of the 11 September 2001 terror attacks on New York’s World Trade Center.
The slogan accompanying the advert is ambiguous too, with some interpreting it as a potential or bad-taste threat. “Paris, we’re coming today,” it reads.
Outrage as an advertising tool?
Online commentary has been by turns wry and scathing.
“Did the idiot who designed this graphic not see a PIA plane heading for the Eiffel Tower? One of Europe’s iconic landmarks. Do they not know about the 9/11 tragedy – which used planes to attack buildings? Did they not think that this would be perceived in similar fashion?” said Pakistani PR expert and erstwhile political adviser Omar R. Quraishi on X.
I mean who is PIA’s creative agency
— omar r quraishi (@omar_quraishi) January 10, 2025
Who designed this?
Who or which agency manages its social media accounts?
Did the airline management not vet this?
Did the idiot who designed this graphic not see a PIA plane heading for the Eiffel Tower? One of Europe’s iconic landmarks… pic.twitter.com/Z0Vm7LQR51
While many keyboard warriors have derided and condemned the advert, others have pointed out that the advert has very effectively carried out its remit of getting people talking about the new route from Islamabad to Paris.
“Let’s be honest, without the terrible design of their post, none of us would even know that PIA is flying to Paris now,” one social media commenter remarked.
Not a parody or fake
Despite widespread ridicule and accusations of tone-deaf insensitivity to the almost 3,000 victims killed by the 9/11 extremists and the estimated 940,000 fatalities, over half of whom were civilians, of the ensuing US “war on terror”, the advert, no matter how unbelievable, is not a parody or a fake, fact-checkers have confirmed.

Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has welcomed the rehabilitation of the country’s national flag carrier, which officials say lost nearly $150 million (€146 million) in annual revenue due to the European ban.
Why was Pakistan International Airlines banned?
The prohibition on PIA flights was brought in due to a 2020 crash in Karachi in which 97 people died and a subsequent investigation which, according to Pakistan’s aviation Minister, Ghulam Sarwar Khan, revealed that around 33% of Pakistani pilots had cheated in order to obtain their flying qualifications.
French officials are yet to comment on the controversial marketing campaign.