Airline steps in to save Coll couple’s honeymoon
A NEWLYWED couple who stay on Coll had their honeymoon saved by a small airline after their ferry from the island was disrupted.
After a ‘perfect’ wedding day, Nicola Gurney and Mathieu Willcocks were left high, dry and unable to make their flight to Thailand. However, after phoning Hebridean Air Services (HAS) to see if there was anything that could be done, the airline put on an additional service to help the couple out.
Speaking to The Oban Times after landing in Bangkok, Mathieu said: ‘When we originally booked our honeymoon flight, it seemed it would work out, but then the timetable changed again and the new ferry time was going to make us miss our flight.
‘So we contacted HAS and explained the situation. Their early flight was full, the afternoon flight was too late, so Dixie in the Oban airport office called us back and told us they’d put on an extra flight just for us. So we ended up getting this new flight and made all our connections and flight on time. Dixie and Julie Angell, the pilot, were fantastic and we even got a bottle of champagne from them when we landed in Oban.’
The newlywed added: ‘Our wedding was perfect. Plans had to be changed last minute because of the weather, but the community stepped in and pulled out all the stops to make it a great success. We couldn’t have wished for a more perfect day.’
The couple have lived on Coll for two years. Nicola works for Project Trust, a charity based on Coll, and photographer Mathieu runs workshops on the island.
HAS, which has two small nine seater planes, is based at Oban Airport. It runs charter flights to Coll, Colonsay, Tiree, Islay and Oban.