Stansted Airport drive-in cinema 'will not distract pilots'

The airport said the Top Gun: Maverick film, featuring Tom Cruise, would lend itself to the drive-in cinema experience

Airport bosses have stressed that pilots will not be distracted by a large LED screen at a temporary drive-in cinema at its site in Essex.

London Stansted Airport is to host film screenings for charity in its JetParks car park for a week in December.

They include Christmas classics Elf and Home Alone, as well as Dirty Dancing, Grease and Top Gun: Maverick.

"The screen will be nowhere near the runway and certainly not on the flight path," a spokesman said.

He confirmed the charity event was cleared with authorities and was "compliant with regulations".

Money raised from the events has been earmarked for the charities Medcare, Magic Breakfast and the Children's Society

Alex Reed, business operations manager at London Stansted, also offered reassurance for those concerned about noise from planes impacting the experience.

"If you are watching Top Gun you could see it as surround sound, I guess. It might help the ambiance of the film," he told BBC Essex.

"Where the car park is, it is quite set back from the runway and when you arrive you are going to get a personal speaker.

"[It will] go in your car so all the sound will be within your car, so there shouldn't be too much noise from planes. It shouldn't affect the experience too much."

London Stansted Airport will be hosting film screenings for charity in its JetParks car park

Two films per day will be shown during the event, which will be held while the JetParks car park is closed for winter.

All proceeds would go to charities Medcare, Magic Breakfast and the Children's Society, the airport said.

"We've had the idea for a while but it takes quite a lot of organisation and planning, so this is the first time we have been able to pull it off," Mr Reed said.

"We are always trying to think of new and creative ways of raising as much money as we can for charity and this is how the idea was born."