Mahanga Maru says the groom and his brother would have been stuck in Gisborne. Photo: supplied
A groom has made it to Auckland in time for his own wedding, after a desperate call to the owner of a small East Coast airline.
On Monday, Air Ruatoria's Mahanga Maru had the groom's brother, Luke Hamlin, on the other end of the line - and he was stressed.
"He told me his brother was getting married in Auckland the next day, and their flight from Gisborne to Auckland had been cancelled," Maru said.
"They were essentially stuck in Gisborne."
Flying the pair direct to Auckland would have been at huge expense - so Maru hatched another plan, flying them to Napier to catch a connecting flight north.
"They were very happy, they were facing a six hour drive to Auckland and I don't think that Luke or his brother, the groom, really wanted to be too stressed about too much, so what we came up with as a solution worked really well."
By all accounts, the wedding would go ahead as planned on Tuesday - but Maru declined an invite.
"I said to the groom, I'm probably a little bit busy tomorrow, but I text him last night just to make sure they were in Auckland. The groom and his brother were very happy to be there.
The plan also worked out in the favour of another stranded flyer, whose Auckland to Gisborne flight had been cancelled.
"That meant that I could pick up Fred from Napier, drop Luke and the groom off at Napier for them to catch their flight to Auckland, to get married."
And of course, business class service was on offer for all three customers, Maru joked.
"I did offer Fred a fresh croissant and some jet planes, but he respectfully declined, as he'd already eaten."