Honeymoon couple stranded in Dubai

Sarah Saunderson • Published 22 Apr 2010 11:43 0 Comments

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The six-day lockdown on commercial flights caused by ash from an Icelandic volcano has left the travel plans of hundreds of Fermanagh people in chaos. They include one local couple, Eloise Wilson and Mark Stockdale, stranded in Dubai on honeymoon.

And while a trickle of flights took to the air late on Tuesday night, it is anticipated that a huge logistical operation now faces airlines to get aircraft and crew back in the right place to try to resume their travel schedules.

The return to normality is expected to be slow. The flight ban was a precautionary measure due to safety fears for aircraft flying through the cloud of volcanic ash coming from the Icelandic volcano.

In the past week Fermanagh people have been among the many thousands who have had to take to rail, road and sea in an effort to get back home following the widespread cancellation of flights.

Newlyweds Eloise Wilson and Mark Stockdale from Enniskillen are currently on an extended honeymoon in Dubai as a result of the volcano in Iceland.

Following their wedding in Darling Street Methodist Church and their reception in the Killyhevlin Hotel on Easter Saturday, April 3, the couple, who now live in Bath, set off on their honeymoon to Dubai on the subsequent Tuesday. They are staying in a five star hotel - the Royal Meridien Spa - and were due to return home last weekend, but the volcanic ash situation put paid to their travel plans. Mrs. Ingrid Logan, Eloise's mother, said the couple was due home on Saturday, but phoned last Friday and said it looked as if they were not getting home as planned. They have remained in their hotel and had hopes dashed of a flight when a further amount of volcanic ash was released on Tuesday. Mrs. Logan had received a text on Monday night to say they might get out yesterday, Wednesday. However, she learned on Tuesday, that this would not be happening - due to the change in the volcanic ash. Mark, a solicitor was due back to work on Monday of this week and Eloise, a teacher, was due back yesterday (Wednesday).

Mrs. Logan believes they are becoming a little bit anxious now and would like to get home to return to work.

One young woman on a short break to Rome, who had been due to fly back on Sunday, was only expected to make it back to Enniskillen last night (Wednesday). Clare Maguire, Proprietor of Burrendale Day Nursery, eventually had to hire a taxi to take her and a friend from Rome to the French port of Cherbourg. Efforts to get a train had proved fruitless as there was no space on trains travelling from Rome until early next week. The 22-hour taxi journey cost €1,700. Typical of the camaraderie that has emerged among travellers, they shared the taxi with a couple from Galway who had also been stranded in the Italian capital.

And Nigel Tilson, originally from Wattlebridge, was the only member of the Tilson family able to attend his brother Brian's wedding in Essen, Germany at the weekend. Unfortunately his two Fermanagh-based sisters, Heather Tilson and Shirley Baloucoune and her 12-year-old son Robert were unable to make it. In all, he was the only one out of 11 travellers from Northern Ireland who made it to the ceremony. He left his home at Islandmagee on Friday morning at 6am and by driving and taking the boat, managed to make it to Essen for 11am on Saturday with just hours to spare before the wedding. He was rewarded with a round of applause when he got to the Church. "I was quite embarrassed at the Church as I got a round of applause and at the reception, I got a standing ovation," he said. As UK Communications Manager for Stena Line, he was well placed to travel by boat to Europe. His journey included taking the HSS to Scotland, driving to Harwich and then taking a further Stena service to the Hook of Holland. His 1,300 mile trip covered four days. He returned home on Monday night.

And cyclists from the emergency services who were cycling from Enniskillen to Bielefeld found their return trip almost more taxing than the six-day pedal across the miles. Seven out of the ten cyclists were unable to fly home. The journey home took about 38 hours and they got back on Monday night. They had hired a car from Bielefeld and drove to Calais to get the ferry to Dover, then taking the train to Holyhead, from where they sailed to Dublin.

Some remain stranded as a result of the chaos. Lucy McVey's two-week Easter break to see family in Enniskillen is lasting at least a week longer than originally planned. While some flights were beginning resume, she still has not been able to book a flight to get back to London. Lucy, together with her daughters Isabel (2) and baby Emma (seven months) were due to fly home to London out of Belfast International last Friday afternoon. It will now be at least three weeks before Lucy's partner Paul will see the children. "We are stuck in limbo. We don't know how long we are going to be here for and if we are going to get home and whether we should start looking at the option of getting boats," she said.

In spite of the lock-down on flights from the bigger airports, it was business as usual for lighter, fixed wing aircraft and helicopters at Enniskillen airport. "We were as busy as ever at the weekend," said Mr. Alan Cathcart. "The general public are believing the press when they are saying that air space is closed. That is not the case. They assume because commercial aircraft are not flying, nobody is. We are not affected at all. We are not being disrupted. We are still forging ahead and flights are going ahead."

Training flights and visitors coming from Ireland and across the water have been using Enniskillen Airport. "It is because they travel at a lower altitude. The problem is at higher altitude of 20,000 feet. Most light aircraft are operating at a lower level than that," said Mr. Cathcart. Smaller aircraft can still operate at different altitude to commercial aircraft. I do not think the volcano affected us significantly, if at all".

While those flights continue, Mr. Tony Ringland from Corporate Aviation, which has a base at Enniskillen airport, said its private jets had been grounded. "Any business jets we operate won't be flying anywhere. Jet aircraft are vulnerable to volcanic ash". Speaking from Dallas on Tuesday where the company has a sales office, he too had been due to return last Friday and is not expecting to be able to fly home until next Tuesday. "The particles that the authorities are worried about is invisible that are less then two millimetres thick. It can affect the holes and tubes that allow the aircraft to 'breathe'. Jet engines are vulnerable. With the intake of these particles, the heat can compress it into hard glass," he said.

Even for those who may not be planning to leave home for the next while, they may find what we put in their shopping baskets may be affected by the grounding of commercial flights. Mr. Paddy Gillen, proprietor of Gillen's Fruit and Vegetable shop in Enniskillen said that for the moment shelves are fully stocked, but the choice of goods could be affected if flights are disrupted in the longer term. "This would affect the goods that are flown in such as vegetables from Africa like sugar snap peas, mange tout and asparagus. Those sort of things are starting to move up in price and becoming scarce. Hopefully this should not last much longer.

"There is a lot of stuff we can't send by sea because it is highly perishable. If it goes on for an awful lot longer, things are going to get difficult. The high value, highly perishable products from South America and Africa would be affected. Most of the products coming from Spain have got a good shelf life and come by refrigerated lorry and by boat. Things that are perishable normally come by air freight. But at the moment, shelves are fully stocked," he said.

This article appeared in Impartial Reporter 22 Apr 10

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