![\"The](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/1d3a8b3c0ca3d067eeed790e8bede51f5d62c0c5.jpg\")
Camera IconThe airport said a direct lightning strike on the airfield had resulted in damage to critical airstrip infrastructure.\u00a0 Credit: Justin Benson-Cooper\/The Sunday Times<\/p>\nWA\u2019s busiest airport will be forced to close for at least tonight after a lightning strike damaged \u201calmost all\u201d of the taxi and runway lights required to guide planes during take-off and landing.<\/p>\n
Disruptions are not expected for essential services that use the airport as a base \u2014 including WA Police and RAC rescue helicopter flights \u2014 after Jandakot Airport announced the runways would close from sunset.<\/p>\n
The airport said a direct lightning strike on the airfield had resulted in damage to critical airstrip infrastructure.<\/p>\n
\u201cPlease note that a direct lightning strike on our airfield today has resulted in damage to lighting cables and almost all of our runway and taxiway lights have been damaged,\u201d it said.<\/p>\n
\u201cUnfortunately, this means that our runways and taxiways will not be available tonight and the aerodrome will not be available after sunset.<\/p>\n
Camera IconThe airport said a direct lightning strike on the airfield had resulted in damage to critical airstrip infrastructure.\u00a0 Credit: Justin Benson-Cooper\/The Sunday Times<\/p>\n
\u201cJandakot Airport will endeavour to get at least one runway back and operational by tomorrow night.\u201d<\/p>\n
The airport said a notice has been issued to relevant parties of the disruption.<\/p>\n
When The West Australian called the airport at 2.30pm on Monday, a spokesperson said the airport was currently open.<\/p>\n
A Department of Fire and Emergency Services spokeswoman said there would be \u201cno impact to the service delivery\u201d of RAC rescue helicopters during the aerodromes\u2019 closure from sunset.<\/p>\n
It is understood WA Police have alternative options to ensure officers can be flown to locations around the State even if their Jandakot-based plane can\u2019t fly. It is understood the WA Police Air Wing helicopters do not require lighting for take-off and landing.<\/p>\n
A police spokesman said the force did not comment on the \u201coperational availability, deployment, or readiness of aircraft capabilities\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cEnsuring community safety remains a priority, and the WA Police Force maintains a range of policing resources and capabilities to support operational requirements across the State,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe WA Police Force continues to respond to incidents as required and does not discuss specific operational arrangements.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Royal Flying Doctor Service said temporary lights or clearance to land at Perth Airport were being considered if flights were required on Monday evening through to Tuesday morning.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe RFDS in WA is working closely with Jandakot Airport following a lightning strike earlier today,\u201d they said.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs always, the safety of our people and patients is our most important priority.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"WA\u2019s busiest airport will be forced to close for at least tonight after a lightning strike damaged \u201calmost…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":68895,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[11630,152,335,464],"class_list":["post-68894","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-perth","tag-aviation","tag-news","tag-perth","tag-wa-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/68894","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=68894"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/68894\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/68895"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=68894"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=68894"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=68894"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}