The papers may have gotten it wrong but this report is interesting. My added emphasis.
Air safety authorities are investigating reports that a Jetstar plane took off from Launceston Airport, in northern Tasmania, one night last week without runway lights.
The A-320 Airbus was on a scheduled flight to Sydney. It is not known how many passengers were on board.The Australian Transport Safety Bureau says runway lights are a normal part of operations and it would be a safety issue if they were not used.The Bureau's Julian Walsh says an investigation is underway.
"Jetstar advised the Bureau that an aircraft had taken off from Launceston during hours of darkness and it appears that the runway lights were not on when the aircraft took off," he said.
A spokesman for Jetstar, Simon Westaway, says the airline reported the matter within 24 hours of it occurring. He says Jetstar will not comment further while an investigation is happening. "I can confirm that as the result of an aviation safety investigation report publicised today by the Australian Transport Safety Bureau, Jetstar has previously and will continue to work with regulators around this matter."
This would indicate to me that the lights were off for part or all of the take off and an incident report filed- and that the crew also became aware of it at some stage. That brings us back to the 'why' that I implied earlier- and others have asked about much more bluntly. Why did this occur? What is it about Launy that causes this to happen...possibly for the second time!
Stay vigilant folks. Aviation is always finding new ways to bring us undone!