KINGSTON, Jamaica (JIS) — Work is slated to begin this year on the expansion of the runway at the Ian Fleming International Airport in Boscobel, St Mary.

Minister of Transport and Mining, Mike Henry, said the project will enable the airport to accommodate larger aircraft.

“The basic point of Ian Fleming becoming an international airport (is) to accept the American Eagle, (which) means that you could be flying out of an airport that could take you to Miami, (the) East Coast, West Coast and Central and South America,” he noted.

He was speaking at a post-Sectoral Debate press briefing yesterday at the ministry’s Maxfield Avenue offices in Kingston.

Henry said the expansion will bring increased business for villas and small hotel operators in that section of the island, who will be able to use the connectivity as a major marketing tool.

“It is also driving the expansion of three hotels and opening up of Port Antonio and the wider Portland, where we have commitments for hotels to begin to be constructed,” he said.

Previously known as the Boscobel Aerodrome, the Ian Fleming International Airport is named after the famed James Bond British author, who wrote some of his most famous novels while residing in St Mary.

The airport was originally a limited-service facility that processed some 20,000 passengers annually.

The facility welcomed its first international flight on May 7, 2010 after a $300-million renovation project.