Bechtel has helped McCarran airport keep up with the growth of Las Vegas.

A fascinating panorama greets visitors as they fly into Las Vegas. Surrounded by the parched desert of southern Nevada, the city appears as a giant oasis dotted with some of the most extravagant hotels on Earth. And if that isn’t enough to convince you that your destination is the world’s largest ongoing party, you’ll know for sure once you’re inside McCarran International Airport. It has nearly 1,200 slot machines.

Since Howard Hughes showed in the late 1960s that resort-casinos could be world-class attractions, Las Vegas has enjoyed explosive population growth while becoming, in its own words, “The Entertainment Capital of the World.” Each year, almost 40 million people visit the city, and close to half of them fly into McCarran International Airport, located less than three miles (4.8 kilometers) from the famous Las Vegas Strip.

Today, McCarran is the second-largest airport in the world for origin and destination travel (as opposed to connecting flights). Only Los Angeles International is larger. Not surprisingly, McCarran has been in a perpetual state of expansion for nearly three decades, keeping up with the headlong growth of tourism.