If you have ever been on a plane, I am sure you have paid close attention to what is on the outside of the window. And I am also sure that there has been some time when you wanted to close the window and found a loose, cheap piece of plastic being the only source of refuge from the harsh sun at 30,000 ft. Even on newer 300 million dollar aircraft, you can find the old tried and true technology. That is until the Boeing 787 came along.

When Boeing came out with the 787 in 2009, they vowed it to be the most technologically advanced and comfortable airliner in the sky, dubbing it the “Dreamliner”. And so of course the old window shade technology had to be thrown out. Boeing unveiled electronically dimmable windows which did away with the traditional plastic slide-down shades. So how does this work? (Don’t worry I won’t get too scientific) but the window is made of two panes of glass and a gel in between which has to ability to have electric current run through it. When more current is run through, the window darkens. While this sounded cool, in practice it wasn’t because it would take an average of 5 minutes for the window to darken due to the chemical interaction between the gel and the electric current being relatively slow. 

Of course Boeing’s main competitor, Airbus saw this flaw and stuck with the traditional window which served them well because many passengers and airline customers alike have said they have preferred the A350 over the B787 for the sole reason of the windows. However, in September 2022, Airbus announced they would be installing dimmable windows onto new A350s and their timing for this is crucial. At the time, Gentex, the company that produces the dimmable windows for aerospace companies, had just released a new version of the technology which darkens twice as fast and blocks 99.999% of dimmable light. Because of this, Airbus decided to make the jump to dimmable windows in their new A350s.

These moves by both Boeing and Airbus have been called to question by many. Many consumers complain of their ample design flaws. Some airlines even lock the windows so passengers can not have any input. Last year people complained on many American Boeing 787s that they were locked and could not be adjusted. When Airbus announced the product implementation, Lufthansa announced they would not order A350s with dimmable windows.