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Jamaica opens new airport named for Ian Fleming
By DAVID McFADDEN , 01.13.11, 09:12 AM EST
KINGSTON, Jamaica -- A new international airport for private jets and small commercial aircraft was unveiled in northern Jamaica on Wednesday, named after the British thriller writer who invented the literary and cinematic super spy James Bond.
Ian Fleming International Airport is close to the scenic retreat where the late author reportedly wrote all 14 of his books about the elegant, crafty spy. The property is now an exclusive resort owned by Island Records founder Chris Blackwell, who is credited with introducing reggae great Bob Marley's music to the world.
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The small airport, formerly called the Boscobel Aerodrome, features a terminal with customs and immigration sections to accommodate global travelers. Officials said the facility just outside the coastal town of Orcabessa is the Caribbean island's third international airport.
The 007 author's niece, Lucy Fleming, who traveled from her Oxfordshire home in southwestern England to attend the ribbon-cutting ceremony, said her uncle would have been thrilled to see an airport emblazoned with his name in the Jamaican parish of St. Mary.
"He adored Jamaica and found so much inspiration and relaxation here. So I tell you something, to have this accolade of having an airport named after him here I know would have been a great honor for him," Fleming said. "Honestly, I don't think he would have written those (Bond) books without Jamaica."
Fleming first visited Jamaica in 1942, when he was an intelligence agent in Bermuda. He returned and bought a property he dubbed GoldenEye four years later - in the dying days of the British Empire, when the north shore of Jamaica teemed with scions of wealthy British families and American celebrities like Errol Flynn.
By DAVID McFADDEN , 01.13.11, 09:12 AM EST
KINGSTON, Jamaica -- A new international airport for private jets and small commercial aircraft was unveiled in northern Jamaica on Wednesday, named after the British thriller writer who invented the literary and cinematic super spy James Bond.
Ian Fleming International Airport is close to the scenic retreat where the late author reportedly wrote all 14 of his books about the elegant, crafty spy. The property is now an exclusive resort owned by Island Records founder Chris Blackwell, who is credited with introducing reggae great Bob Marley's music to the world.
Article Controls
The small airport, formerly called the Boscobel Aerodrome, features a terminal with customs and immigration sections to accommodate global travelers. Officials said the facility just outside the coastal town of Orcabessa is the Caribbean island's third international airport.
The 007 author's niece, Lucy Fleming, who traveled from her Oxfordshire home in southwestern England to attend the ribbon-cutting ceremony, said her uncle would have been thrilled to see an airport emblazoned with his name in the Jamaican parish of St. Mary.
"He adored Jamaica and found so much inspiration and relaxation here. So I tell you something, to have this accolade of having an airport named after him here I know would have been a great honor for him," Fleming said. "Honestly, I don't think he would have written those (Bond) books without Jamaica."
Fleming first visited Jamaica in 1942, when he was an intelligence agent in Bermuda. He returned and bought a property he dubbed GoldenEye four years later - in the dying days of the British Empire, when the north shore of Jamaica teemed with scions of wealthy British families and American celebrities like Errol Flynn.
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