Sky Harbor International Airport is a joint civil-military public airport in Phoenix, Arizona. Located in the Sonoran Desert, at an elevation of approximately 1,117 feet, Phoenix was incorporated as a city in 1861 and is currently ranked as the sixth largest city in the nation with of population of over 1.4 million people. With an average annual rainfall between three and fifteen inches Phoenix is located in one of the wettest and greenest deserts in North America. According to the National Climatic Data Center, the sun shines approximately eighty-five percent of all daylight hours, meaning the city observes more hours of sunlight than any other city in America. The city is also a booming metropolitan and has maintained a twenty-four percent growth rate since 2007, second only to Las Vegas, Nevada.

Currently one of the top ten busiest airports in the nation for passenger travel, the airport grosses nearly $79 million daily. The airport got its start in 1928 when Scenic Airways General Manager J. Parker Van Zandt purchased large tracts of land in Arizona’s Sun Valley. After numerous upgrades the airport was dedicated in 1928 to a crowd of over 8,000. Airport expansion would soon receive a major setback with the Bank Crash of 1929 and ensuing Great Depression. Not until the mid-1930s when the Acme Investment Company convinced the city of Phoenix to purchase the airport did expansion and development begin again.

Throughout the airports history, it has been home to four terminals; the first of which was constructed in October of 1952 at a price of $853,000. Terminal One was the first modern terminal built at the airport and was a major center of commerce until the terminal was demolished in the 1990s. Terminals two through four remain today and all together comprise over five million square feet.