result in de facto advertising and reinforce the public recognition of the Emirates company as one that is associated with western sports and culture. In May 2013 three Arsenal players, Kieran Gibbs, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and Carl Jenkinson took an A380 flight simulator challenge. Swapping their usual airline passenger seats and stepping into the cockpit, the players attempted to land an A380 in Dubai. Emirates, along with the aviation services company Dnata, is owned by the parent company The Emirates Group which, in turn, is wholly owned by the Government of Dubai. The chairman and CEO of The Emirates Group, Sheikh Ahmed Bin Saeed Al Maktoum, is the younger brother of the former ruler of Dubai, Sheikh Rashid Bin Saeed Al Maktoum, and uncle of the current ruler, Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum. In 1985, Sheikh Ahmed was appointed President of the Dubai Department of Civil Aviation (DCA), the governing body for airline regulation and airport control and operation. The DCA was restructured and expanded in 2007, thus creating the Dubai Civil Aviation Authority (DCAA) which has since been the airline regulatory authority in the Emirate and the Dubai Airports company which owns and operates Dubai's airports, Dubai International and the currently under-construction Dubai World Central – Al Maktoum International. Dubai International (IATA: DXB) is a primary international hub in the Middle East, offering flights to every continent except Antarctica. As of November 2010, DXB is the 6th busiest airport in the world for cargo traffic, and the 14th highest passenger throughput of all international airports. Sheikh Ahmed currently simultaneously holds the positions of Chairman and CEO of Emirates Airline & Group, which includes the Emirates airline and Dnata air services company, Chairman of the Dubai Airports company, and President of the Dubai Civil Aviation Authority. Because Dubai's government leadership is directly involved and intertwined with private-sector enterprises, including the Emirates airline and many other facets of the tourism industry, the government there necessarily has a vested interest in the public perception of Dubai. References External links Forbes: "Emirates Air: Spoiling for a Fight" World Economic Forum's "The Travel & Tourism Competitiveness Report 2009 Advertising Tourism campaigns