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It's not so much as there is a "longer version" designed and sitting around, but more that the wings were built with a potential future, longer fuselage variant
by S201 3y ago
It's not so much as there is a "longer version" designed and sitting around, but more that the wings were built with a potential future, longer fuselage variant in mind. This is more evident if you look at a top-down view of it and note that the wing-to-fuselage ratio is higher than that of other planes, similar to how the 747-SP looks much shorter in length than its wings should be designed for. There's more details on the Wikipedia page for it: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Airbus_A380#Variants_proposed_but_not_produced https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Airbus_A380#Variants_proposed_...
- rob74 3y agoOr, to quote the Wikipedia article directly: > The A380's wings are sized for a maximum takeoff weight (MTOW) over 650 tonnes to accommodate these [larger] future versions, albeit with some internal strengthening required on the A380F freighter. The optimal wingspan for this weight is about 90 m (300 ft), but airport restrictions have limited it to less than 80 m (260 ft), thereby lowering the aspect ratio to 7.8 which reduces fuel efficiency by about 10% and increases operating costs a few percent, given that fuel costs constitute about 50% of the cost of long-haul aeroplane operation.