newy.com.au – A runway lighting fault appears to have forced Newcastle Airport to abandon its remaining Monday night schedule after every second light on the shared Williamtown runway was listed as unserviceable.
The runway closed at 5.49pm, with the airport’s flight information feed later showing the remaining scheduled arrivals from the Gold Coast, Melbourne and Brisbane as cancelled. Newcastle Airport said an airfield issue was under investigation and advised passengers to check arrangements directly with their airline.
“Newcastle Airport can confirm the runway will be temporarily closed this evening while the Royal Australian Air Force investigates an airfield issue,” the airport said in a statement posted to Facebook.
“Further flights will not be operating into the evening. Newcastle Airport is working closely with the Royal Australian Air Force and our airline partners to manage the disruption and will provide further updates as more information becomes available.”
An aviation notice (NOTAM) issued on Monday morning said lighting on runway 12/30 was below the required standard because every second light was unserviceable.
C223/26 REPLACE C222/26 RWY 12/30 LGT NOT TO STD (EVERY SECOND LGT U/S) FROM 08 100052 TO 08 110800
A second notice issued shortly before the evening shutdown formally closed the runway until 6am on Tuesday. The closure notice did not specify a reason.
C228/26 RWY 12/30 CLOSED FROM 08 100749 TO 08 102000
Jetstar flight JQ476 from Melbourne was among the last passenger aircraft to arrive, touching down about 15 minutes before the runway closed. The cancelled evening arrivals included Jetstar flight JQ495 from the Gold Coast, Qantas services from Melbourne and Brisbane, and Virgin Australia flight VA1108 from Brisbane.
The lighting failure occurred on the same day questions were raised about separate reports of unidentified drones entering restricted airspace near Williamtown between July 11 and 13. No connection has been established between the two matters.
The Daily Telegraph reported that multiple uncrewed aircraft systems had been detected and that the Australian Defence Force did not know who controlled them or why they were near the base. The newspaper also reported that the aircraft were not brought down, the incidents were referred to the NSW Police Counter-UAS Unit and base personnel were told to close window blinds.
Defence subsequently confirmed it was aware of reports of uncrewed aircraft systems operating near Newcastle Airport and RAAF Base Williamtown, but did not identify the aircraft, their operators or their purpose.
