Wedding dreams are turned to ash
SYDNEY: From Aussie brides missing their own weddings to couples being forced to get married without their family and friends, the volcanic ash cloud disrupting Indonesian airspace is ruining more than just holidays.
Five Indonesian airports remained closed yesterday, including the holiday and wedding hot spot Bali, because of continuous eruptions from Mt Ruang, just 150km from Denpasar.
Jetstar and Virgin air- lines pre-empted the airport closures, cancelling flights to the island for the third day in a row, with full-service airlines such as Garuda being forced to ground planes on Thursday night.
Numerous destination wedding companies in Australia were yesterday scrambling to find solutions for their clients, including ferrying guests more than 1000km from Jakarta to Bali to attend weddings this weekend.
Couples lucky enough to have made it to their island destination still faced celebrating their special day without most of their family and friends by their side.
Global Weddings Australia director Narelle Williams said they had one bride stranded in Sydney as of last night, and four weddings in Bali in the next four days with shrinking guest lists.
“The (couples) that are there right now are a bit stressed, a bit more upset really, just because they’re not going to get the numbers that they wanted to have,” Ms Williams said.
“The two weddings tomorrow are about 20 to 25 down on their guests.”
Airline Rating aviation expert Geoffrey Thomas defended the decision of Jetstar and Virgin to cancel flights.
“Ash cloud is very dangerous. In its worst-case scenario, it will shut down the engines of a plane,” he said.
“One of the components of ash is glass, which melts and becomes a sticky substance in the engine core.
“Last year a Jetstar flight flew through an ash cloud, from Perth to Jakarta, and caused $20 million damage to the engines.”
He said that while it was a cost concern, it was a “safety thing” for airlines.
“Some people would argue that Virgin group and Qantas group are too conservative. Others would say ‘that’s great – that’s why you’ve got the best safety record in the world’.”