A major Japanese travel agency has cancelled a promotion offering passengers the chance to fly with female university students chosen from a “pictorial book of beautiful girls” after an online backlash.

Local media reported that H.I.S. Co offered five groups of winners the in-flight companionship of female students enrolled at the University of Tokyo, who would share their knowledge en route about the overseas destination and its tourist attractions.

Japanese news blog RocketNews24 reported the campaign – “Todai Bijo Zukan university student will sit next to you for a fun flight to your destination plan” – stressed the women’s intelligence over their looks.

However, the women were to be chosen from Todai Bijo Zukan (Pictorial Book of Beautiful Girls at Todai), a biannual anthology compiled by students and sold at the university, colloquially known as Todai.

According to PR Week, five winners were to be given a choice of five female students with whom to “spend their time in the air in a meaningful way”: two engineers, a science student, a literature student and an education student.

But hours after the campaign launched on Wednesday, it was criticised as sexist, with the agency receiving complaints on social media.

Wow, @HIS_japan. I've seen sleazy guys at clubs try to exploit @Univ_of_Tokyo women before, but this is new. https://t.co/PKPQyhvOm2 — Brian David Berry (@BrianDavidBerry) May 13, 2016

@BrianDavidBerry @HIS_japan @Univ_of_Tokyo Clearly an idea born in a conference room full of old men. — Thomas Sturm (@thomassturm) May 13, 2016

Fewer than 12 hours after launching the campaign, the agency – based in Shinjuku Ward – scrapped the package and published an apology on its website that acknowledged the volume of “opinions” it had received.

The Japan Times reports that H.I.S. Co said its intention was to offer customers “a new way to spend their time while on a flight”.

“The concept was [for the winner] to pass the time in the cabin of the aircraft in a fun and meaningful way,” a representative of H.I.S. was quoted by NHK, “but this has given rise to a misunderstanding.

“We took everyone’s opinions seriously and decided to cancel the promotion.”