Ian Fleming International Airport

James Bond Airport? Sort of.

John Wayne has his name on one in California; there’s one named for John Lennon in Liverpool; and one named for John F. Kennedy near New York City.

Now, like Louis Armstrong in New Orleans, Ronald Reagan in Washington, D.C. and George H. Bush in Houston, the author of Chitty Chitty Bang Bang and the creator of James Bond spy series has an airport with his name on it.

This week, after a $3 million makeover and a rebranding, Jamaica’s former Bosocobel Aerodrome was officially reopened as the Ian Fleming International Airport.  The airport is about five miles from the resort town of Ocho Rios and near Goldeneye, the estate where Fleming lived in the 1950s and 1960s and worked on his series of books and short stories about the spy known as 007.

Dedication, Ian Fleming Int'l Airport

Prime Minister Bruce Golding (left), unveils a plaque at the official opening of the Ian Fleming International Airport, with Ian Fleming’s niece, Lucy Fleming, and a variety of government officials.

Tourism officials hope the airport will attract jet-setters and wealthy visitors like singer/songwriter and businessman Jimmy Buffet, who flew in on a single engine private jet back in May to become the first international passenger to arrive at the new airport.

Jimmy Buffet arriving on the first international flight into the Boscobel Aerodrome, now the Ian Fleming International Airport.  To the left of Jimmy Buffet is Jamaica’s Youth, Sports and Culture Minister, Olivia Grange; to his right is Chris Blackwell, founder of Island Records and the owner of Fleming’s Goldeneye property, which is now a hotel and resort.

Airport photos courtesy: Jamaican Information Service.