The World's Tallest Man-Made Structure. Known for being overstated and decadent in a number of ways, Dubai outdid itself in January 2010, when it officially opened the Burj Dubai, a 2,717-ft. (828 m) tower that is the tallest man-made structure in the world. But the glory of the title was mired in a tough reality: just a few weeks prior, Dubai's biggest state-owned development company said it was unable to pay its debts.
How Does American Airlines Fly 200 Million People a Year? American Airlines Inc. (NASDAQ: AAL) just announced that it had revenue of $41 billion and net income of $7.6 billion last year. The carrier said both were records. To hit the figure, American had to fly 202 million passengers last year, the equivalent of about a third of the U.S. population.
Again using round figures, there are twice as many flights and three times as many people traveling, compared to the 1970s. To be specific, in 1978 the US airlines carried 275 million passengers. In 2009, they carried 770 million passengers. In 1969 there were 5.4 million flights, in 2009, there were 10.1 million.