Melbourne, 20 October 2008

The Qantas A380 made its inaugural flight from Melbourne to Los Angeles on Monday with a full compliment of passengers in their 4-class cabin configuration.

Although Qantas is the third airline to fly the A380 in scheduled service, it has scored a first in its first class cabin with the unique ATG Electric Window Shades.

There are 22 of the new ATG POWERTECH Pleated Electric shades in the First Class cabin. ATG’s unique design uses 2 shades inside a slim cassette in each window aperture. The Pleated opaque shade gives the cabin soft diffused lighting, absolutely perfect for reading and at the same time shielding, video screens from ‘wash out’ glare. The light darkening, or opaque shade, is deployed behind the pleated shade, providing the same level of light blocking as the more traditional shades found on the A340 and A330.

Passengers can control the shades adjacent to their particular seat from a single switch as well as a switch mounted on the sidewall. All shades in the cabin are also controlled from the Flight Attendant Panel [FAP] and can be locked in the full open position for Take-Off and Landing.

Close-up view with translucent shade deployed

20 October 2008
Qantas A380, MEL-LAX
Passenger is adjusting the shade.