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I saw the following on this web page:

The purpose of the longer wing is to reduce drag caused by vortices, or wake turbulence, that form at an aircraft's wing tips. The less drag, the greater the fuel efficiency, and the more cheaply the aircraft can be operated.

How is this correct? How can a longer wing reduce vortices?

Johnson
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    Related, possible duplicates: https://aviation.stackexchange.com/questions/13957/does-the-downwash-created-by-induced-drag-increase-or-decrease-lift https://aviation.stackexchange.com/questions/58277/how-do-endplates-reduce-induced-drag https://aviation.stackexchange.com/questions/32997/is-induced-drag-not-caused-by-tip-vortices – AEhere supports Monica Nov 20 '19 at 14:26
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    The title and the body of this question don't match. Are you asking about the folding wing, or how wing length affects vorticies? – Ron Beyer Nov 20 '19 at 15:27
  • @RonBeyer: I've edited the question to what I'm pretty confident was what the OP intended to say. – Vikki Nov 20 '19 at 21:33

1 Answers1

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So it can fit into standard size airport gates and taxiways.

One reason the A380 didn't see wider adoption was it exceeded the maximum wingspan that most airports are set up for, requiring airports to build special gates and widen taxiways to accommodate it... which is expensive so very few did that.

Even the airports that did make the A380 mods found that an A380 flight couldn't be rescheduled to any available gate, as they only modified a few berths for the wider wingspan.

By folding the wingtips, the 777-X gets the efficiency of a longer wing and wingtips, but doesn't require a wider than normal gate space and taxiway. It can use any airport that can handle commercial traffic, without requiring expensive changes to the airport.

tj1000
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    It sounds like the question is more about the aerodynamics than the space constraints. – fooot Nov 20 '19 at 22:50
  • Edits to the question title make this answer sound out of place. If you look at the question's edit history, it makes more sense. – Fred Larson Nov 21 '19 at 17:09
  • Sadly, there have been enough edits to the original question that this no long answers either the title question or the body question. – FreeMan Nov 21 '19 at 17:10