WHO OK’D THIS?

Prime Minister Orders Probe Into Airline Ad Resembling 9/11 Images

Pakistan International Airlines had released an ad with a plane headed for the Eiffel Tower to celebrate the return of its route to Paris.

Pakistan’s prime minister has ordered a probe into who greenlit an ad with a plane flying straight at the Eiffel Tower accompanied by the words: “Paris, We’re Coming Today.” The poorly conceived graphic—which many observers were quick to note bore an awkward resemblance to imagery of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks in New York—was designed to announce Pakistan International Airlines resuming flights between Paris and Islamabad. The flights had been suspended for four years after European regulators found nearly a third of PIA’s pilots had cheated on their exams and failed to follow safety procedures. The airline is still banned in the U.S. and U.K. During a parliamentary session this week, Pakistan Finance Minister Ishaq Dar called the advertisement “stupidity.” Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif “has directed [authorities] to investigate who conceived this ad,” he added. In 2011, U.S. special forces killed Osama Bin Laden in Pakistan, where the 9/11 mastermind had been hiding out in a compound in Abbottabad. PIA hasn’t addressed the controversy since it erupted on Jan. 10, and the ad is still visible on its profile on the social media platform X.