Air China has apologized for an article in its in-flight magazine that warned London visitors about going to neighborhoods with large populations of “Indians, Pakistanis and black people.”
The offensive words set off a storm of protest on social media and prompted a British lawmaker to demand an apology from the airline for “blatant racism.”
“London is generally a safe place to travel, however precautions are needed when entering areas mainly populated by Indians, Pakistanis and black people,” said the article, which was spotted by a CNBC journalist. “We advise tourists not to go out alone at night, and females always to be accompanied by another person when traveling.”
The passage appeared in a “Tips from Air China” section in the airline’s Wings of China magazine as part of a broader series of articles about the British capital, according to CNBC.
“I am shocked and appalled that even today some people would see it as acceptable to write such blatantly untrue and racist statements,” said Virendra Sharma, the member of parliament for an ethnically diverse district in western London. He said Wednesday he had written to the Chinese ambassador to the U.K. to demand an apology from the state-owned airline.
Air China responded to the furor hours later, expressing “sincere apologies” and insisting it doesn’t “condone discrimination in any shape or form.”
“We regret and apologize for the offensive language contained in the current issue of our in-flight magazine,” the company said in a statement on its North American Twitter account. “Copies of this magazine have been or are being removed from all our flights.”
The airline said it has raised the issue with the “separate entity” that publishes the magazine and vowed that “action will be taken to prevent this from happening again.”
Air China didn’t immediately respond to requests for further comment on Thursday.
The controversy is the latest case of marketing linked to China coming under fire for racism.
A Chinese company provoked widespread outrage earlier this year with a laundry detergent ad that depicted a black man being thrown into a washing machine and then emerging as a light-skinned Chinese man.
There was also considerable criticism online after the Chinese posters for “Star Wars: The Force Awakens” seemed to downplay black actor and co-lead John Boyega.
— Nanlin Fang contributed reporting.