Airbus has patented a 'smart window' concept which might one day grace the pointy end of its most advanced commercial airliners.
The windows would double as interactive touchscreens through which passengers could identify landmarks ranging from cities on the distant ground below through to local eye-catchers such as the London Eye on approach to Heathrow – and, with the tap of the window, call forth a trove of Wikipedia-style information about that sighting.
The smart windows were first advanced as part of the ambitious Airbus 2050 Concept Plane project which could make the A380 superjumbo look like a box glider.
The Jetson-esque plane included not just panoramic windows but a see-through roof...
... to make it less like the cabin of a conventional jet and more like something from a futuristic alternative-reality Zeppelin
Photo gallery: Inside the amazing Airbus 2050 Concept Plane
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David Flynn is the Editor-in-Chief of Executive Traveller and a bit of a travel tragic with a weakness for good coffee, shopping and lychee martinis.
21 Apr 2012
Total posts 3006
Is this another April Fools thing? There was one last year of a see-through fuselage...
05 Jul 2013
Total posts 9
Great - until the flight attendant demands that you to pull down the window shade.
16 Nov 2011
Total posts 580
What like on a 787?
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