McCarran International Airport is the principal commercial airport serving Las Vegas and surrounding Clark County, Nevada. The airport is located five miles (8 km) south of the central business district of Las Vegas, in the unincorporated town of Paradise. It covers an area of 2,800 acres (1,133 ha) and has four runways. McCarran is owned by Clark County and operated by the Clark County Department of Aviation (DOA). It serves as a hub for US Airways and Allegiant Air, and is the largest operation base for Southwest Airlines.

In 2005, McCarran was one of the world's busiest airports, ranking ninth for passenger traffic, with 44,280,190 passengers passing through the terminal, and fifth for aircraft movements, with 605,046 takeoffs and landings. Currently, McCarran International Airport is the sixth busiest airport in the United States in terms of traffic, and the eleventh in the world with 46,194,882 passengers passing through the airport in 2006; a 4.3% change from 2005.

McCarran Airport is somewhat unique in that it has more than 1,300 slot machines throughout the airport terminals. Reno/Tahoe International Airport also has gaming machines both airside and landside. Maximum capacity for the airport is estimated at 53 million passengers and 625,000 aircraft movements. As McCarran is predicted to reach this capacity around 2017, Ivanpah Airport is planned as a relief airport.