International airport

An international airport is an airport that offers customs and immigration facilities for passengers travelling between countries. International airports are typically larger than domestic airports and often feature longer runways and facilities to accommodate the heavier aircraft commonly used for international and intercontinental travel. International airports often also host domestic flights. Some, such as Frankfurt Airport in Germany are very large; others such as Fa'a'ā International Airport in Tahiti, are quite small.

Buildings, operations and management have become increasingly sophisticated since the mid 20th century, when international airports began to provide infrastructure for international civilian flights. Detailed technical standards have been developed to ensure safety and common coding systems implemented to provide global consistency. The physical structures that serve millions of individual passengers and flights are among the most complex and interconnected in the world. By the second decade of the 21st century, there were over 1,200 international airports and almost two billion international passengers along with 50 million metric tonnes of cargo were passing through them annually.

Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport

Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport (IATA: PHX, ICAO: KPHX, FAA LID: PHX) is a civil-military public airport 3 miles (5 km) southeast of downtown Phoenix, in Maricopa County, Arizona, United States. It is Arizona's largest and busiest airport, and among the largest commercial airports in the United States.

In 2015, the airport served 44,006,205 passengers, making it one of the top 10 busiest in the United States by passenger count. It handles more than 1,200 aircraft operations a day, 100,000 passengers and more than 800 tons of cargo. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) records show the airport had 20,169,926 commercial passenger boardings (enplanements) in calendar year 2012 and 20,211,799 in 2011.

The airport serves as a hub for American Airlines and is the airline's fifth-largest and primary western hub with 307 daily departures to more than 77 destinations in four countries. American carries 54% of all passengers through PHX, making it the airports largest carrier. Sky Harbor also serves as one of the largest focus cities for Southwest Airlines with 180 daily departures to 50 cities.