Pakistan launches investigation into controversial PIA Paris flight ad

Pakistan's Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has ordered an investigation into a controversial ad about Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) resuming flights to Paris, which caused a major scandal on social media where users compared it to the September 11, 2001 attacks on New York and the Pentagon.

Report informs via western media that PIA's ad about resuming flights from Islamabad to Paris starting January 10, 2025, featured an image of an airplane flying directly toward the Eiffel Tower with the slogan "Paris, we're arriving today." This sparked widespread criticism and outrage.

Media reports indicate that Pakistan's Finance Minister Muhammad Ishaq Dar stated during a parliamentary session that Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif ordered an investigation into how such an advertisement received approval from the airline.

Safety concerns had previously led to flight bans for PIA in the US and UK. Flights to Paris only resumed after the European Aviation Safety Agency lifted a four-year ban on the airline's aircraft in its airspace.