I’m also not sure of the benefit of the wing spans….you’re comparing Apples and Pears because each aircraft has a wing design based on the individual aircraft, so I’m not sure why we need this information. Payload, range, seat/mile costs, runway performance, purchase price, availability etc are probably better comparitors.

Wing design is a thing which is relatively hard to change, seeing how Boeing 777-200, 777-200ER and 777-300 have exact same wing but were able to tweak much else.

Also note that the wingspans of A340, Il-96 and B-777 are within 80 cm of each other, and 8…9 m longer than MD-11. Not a coincidence, I suspect: they are all designed to be slightly but not much bigger than 747 Classic wingspan of 59,6 m. This also means that they are all too big for airports built to fit DC-10-30…

And consider how DC-10-30 has larger wing than MD-11 at 368 sq m.

The MD approach was to increase wing loading by making the wing slimmer even while MTOW was increased, thus forcing high-speed approaches, cutting down tailplane size and sacrificing longitudinal stability – all of it with the aim to save cruise drag. Whereas Boeing designed a huge wing for 777 compared to MD-11 wing.

How did Boeing 777 avoid a drag penalty for a big wing? And which approach worked – the MD-11 one or the B-777 one?