Extended-RangeTwin-Engine Operations (ETOPS) is a rating granted to airlines by internationalaviation regulatory authorities that allows those airlines to operate applicabletwo-engine aircraft over routes where the time to reach a suitable diversionairport in the case of an engine failure is greater than 60 minutes. Up untilrecently, according to strict compliance conditions, airlines could obtain ETOPSapprovals of up to 180 minutes. However, recently the Federal AviationAdministration (FAA) has extended this approval by 15%, to 207 minutes, on aprovisional basis; there is little doubt in the author's mind, that as long asnothing unforeseen occurs in the next year or two, FAA approval for ETOPSextension to 240 minutes is a matter of course.
This is a companion discussion topic for the original entry at https://www.avweb.com/flight-safety/technique/etops-mania