Ian Fleming, creator of the world’s most famous fictional spy, is to join the likes of John Lennon and John F Kennedy later this month when an airport opens bearing his name.
The Airport Authority of Jamaica (AAJ) has renamed the former Boscobel Airstrip to mark its re-opening and ascension to international status.
In keeping with the sophisticated style of Fleming’s most famous creation, the airport will initially only handle private jets with “specialised services” for private flights. But the Jamaica Tourist Board, which announced the news, said it hoped Ian Fleming would soon support scheduled flights to neighbouring Caribbean islands.
Ian Fleming International Airport has received an “extensive refurbishment and expansion” allowing it to handle jets up to the size of the Bombardier Dash 8. It will be Jamaica’s third international airport after Kingston’s Norman Manley International Airport and Sangster International Airport in Montego Bay.
Boscobel, a domestic aerodrome on the island’s northern coast, is located 5kms from Fleming’s Jamaican home known as Goldeneye (see map).
Other eponymous airports include Abraham Lincoln Capital Airport (Illinois), Galileo Galilei International Airport (Pisa), John Wayne Airport (Santa Ana, California) and WA Mozart Airport (Salzburg).
For more information visit visitjamaica.com, airportsauthorityjamaica.aero.
Report by Andrew Gough