At American Airlines, we have built a business around the love

The words of Gerard Arpey — “At American Airlines, we have built a business around the love of travel that has lasted three quarters of a century. And I’m pretty sure we’re just getting started.” — are not merely a reflection on commerce, but on the enduring spirit of human movement. For hidden within this statement is a truth as old as time: mankind has always sought to go beyond the horizon, to see what lies beyond the mountains, the seas, the skies. And any business that grounds itself in that eternal longing is not merely a company but a vessel of a timeless dream.

The love of travel is no small thing. It is the force that sent caravans across deserts, sails across oceans, and rockets into the stars. It is not only about reaching destinations, but about discovery, about the expansion of the human spirit. Arpey speaks of a company sustained not only by profit but by the pulse of this universal desire — the longing to connect, to explore, to reunite. For seventy-five years, American Airlines has carried millions across the skies, embodying this sacred trust. To suggest that they are “just getting started” is to declare that the journey of humanity itself is unending.

The ancients would have seen this as a continuation of their own tales. Think of Odysseus, whose voyages across perilous seas became a story not only of travel, but of resilience, of longing for home, of the trials and triumphs of the human heart. Or recall Marco Polo, whose journeys carried knowledge between East and West, weaving cultures together. What American Airlines has done for three quarters of a century is but a modern expression of these same legends — forging paths not by wooden ships or caravans, but by wings of steel.

There is also in these words a profound respect for continuity. A company that lasts seventy-five years is no accident; it endures because it aligns itself with something eternal. Empires have risen and fallen, technologies have changed, yet the love of travel has remained constant. Through wars, through depressions, through the changing tides of history, the skies have been filled with those who yearned to move. The story of American Airlines is woven into the larger story of mankind’s restless quest to go further and see more.

But there is also a lesson here about renewal. To say “we’re just getting started” after seventy-five years is to proclaim that the spirit of exploration does not age. A company — like a person — cannot survive long if it clings only to its past. It must look forward, must be willing to grow, to adapt, to embrace new horizons. Just as explorers of old constantly sought new maps, so must modern institutions be willing to reimagine the journey again and again. This is the secret of enduring vitality: to never believe that the journey is complete.

The lesson is clear: tie your work, your business, your life, to something greater than yourself, something eternal. If you ground your labor only in wealth or power, it will crumble when the winds change. But if you root it in the deep desires of the human heart — in connection, in wonder, in the longing for movement and discovery — then your work will outlast you, as the voyages of explorers outlasted their lifetimes.

Practical wisdom follows. Whatever path you walk, seek to build it not only upon necessity, but upon love. If you labor in trade, let it connect people. If you labor in art, let it inspire. If you labor in travel, let it bring the far near, and the divided together. And never imagine that the work is finished; see each milestone as a beginning, each ending as the opening of a greater road. In this way, your life itself becomes like the story of American Airlines: built upon the love of travel, yet always reaching for the skies ahead.

So remember, child of tomorrow: the journey is endless, and the wings of human longing never tire. Gerard Arpey’s words echo the truth that the business of travel is more than commerce — it is the carrying of the eternal flame of discovery. After seventy-five years or seven thousand, humanity will still lift its eyes to the horizon and whisper: We are just getting started.