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Emirates could replace windows with fiber-optic cameras

Your next Emirates flight might just feature virtual windows.

Erin Carson Former Senior Writer
Erin Carson covered internet culture, online dating and the weird ways tech and science are changing your life.
Expertise Erin has been a tech reporter for almost 10 years. Her reporting has taken her from the Johnson Space Center to San Diego Comic-Con's famous Hall H. Credentials
  • She has a master's degree in journalism from Syracuse University.
Erin Carson
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Emirates could get rid of its windows.

Emirates Airlines

Soon it might not matter if you're an aisle seat person or window seat person, at least if you fly Emirates. 

The airline is looking into getting rid of its windows and replacing them with screens -- that is, virtual windows.

Emirate Airlines' president, Tim Clark, told the BBC Wednesday that getting rid of windows means getting rid of structural weaknesses in the fuselage. A plane without windows would also be lighter, and therefore fly faster and burn less fuel. 

Emirates did not immediately respond to a request for comment as to when it might commence windowless flights.

Now, you wouldn't be sealed up in a metal tube hurtling across the sky without a view. What passengers see in the cabin would be virtual windows with images projected from outside via fiber-optic cameras.

"The quality of the imagery is so good, it's better than with the natural eye," Clark said.

So if you see a monster ripping apart the wing of the plane a la William Shatner in the Twilight Zone, it'll be extra sharp.

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