“Forty years ago, on October 25, 1985, the first Emirates flight took off, carrying with it great ambitions that soared toward the sky,” Sheikh Mohammed wrote. “Today, Emirates has become one of the world’s leading airlines, directly connecting Dubai to 152 cities across the globe. It transports people, and with them, their dreams and aspirations, to Dubai and beyond. Over the course of its journey, the airline has carried more than 860 million passengers across continents.”