Perth Airport power outage causes chaos and cancellations

The airport was plunged into darkness for hours. Photo / nine via news.com.au

All flights out of Perth Airport have been cancelled after a power outage sparked chaos.

All flights scheduled to depart after 7.30 pm were initially delayed, but passengers have now been told to go home for the night.

Planes that were already on the way to Perth were able to land.

Footage taken at the airport showed the terminal plunged into darkness as the lights failed.

Some passengers reported being stuck on planes that had landed because air bridges could not work without electricity.

Others who had landed were having trouble collecting the luggage, with disgruntled travellers complaining of "massive crowds".

Some people appeared to be locked out of the airport altogether.

The outage was caused by wild weather which lashed Perth on Tuesday. Winds with speeds of up to 70km/h battered the west coast on Tuesday, and the Bureau of Meteorology expects the turbulent weather to continue until Thursday.

It is not known how long the damage will take to fix.

"Perth Airport will be delaying all outbound services scheduled to depart before 7.30pm," the airport tweeted.

"All inbound flights currently in the air will be able to arrive safely. All scheduled flights into Perth which have not yet departed will be delayed until further notice.

Perth Airport will be delaying all outbound services scheduled to depart before 7.30pm. All inbound flights currently in the air will be able to arrive safely. All scheduled flights into Perth which have not yet departed will be delayed until further notice.

— Perth Airport (@PerthAirport) August 2, 2022

"Passengers should expect delays/cancellations. The safety of everyone who works in or is travelling through our airport remains our highest priority. We apologise to passengers and customers for any inconvenience."

At 2.34 am the airport published another Tweet reporting that power had been restored.

"We recommend passengers check with their airline directly regarding any flight status updates," the tweet read, before asking passengers continue to show patience towards the airport team and airline crew.

Power has been restored to the Perth Airport estate.
We recommend passengers check with their airline directly regarding any flight status updates.
We ask passengers for their continued patience as our Team and our airline partners work to get flights underway.

— Perth Airport (@PerthAirport) August 2, 2022

One passenger responded, saying they had been waiting for nine hours without updates and had their flight cancelled.

— news.com.au with additional reporting