Lightning operates a bit wierd compared with normal electricity. You can put a lightning rod on your house with a relatively small wire that could in no way carry the real load of the strike. Yet the lighting will follow it, as long as yoy lay it out correctly (no sharp bends in the wire).
I'm sure there will be inter-fiber damage in a strike where the lightning jumps between fibers, but it's not going to be like an S glass airframe that basically explodes, even if there's no fuel present.
> I'm sure there will be inter-fiber damage in a strike where the lightning jumps between fibers...
What seems more likely, at least to me, is the use of a copper or aluminum mesh on the outer surface. I was tangentially involved with lighting protection studies for a carbon-fiber-based military missile, and such a mesh ("Astromesh," IIRC) was used to give the missile the conductivity called for. This mesh does not need to be much... basically foil with holes. Still, it's added inert and structurally useless weight.