Boeing (Chicago, Seattle and Charleston) has received 330-minute Extended Operations (ETOPS) approval from the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) for the Boeing 747-8 Intercontinental. It is the first time a four-engine airplane has received this type of design approval.
With this approval, required for four-engine passenger airplanes built after Feb. 2015 to fly beyond 180 minutes from an en-route alternate airport, the 747-8’s design is approved to conduct 330-minute ETOPS missions. These missions allow operators to fly long-distances more directly on virtually any worldwide city pair routing.
Although ETOPS has been a requirement for twin-engine airplanes since the 1980s, the regulations have recently been applied to the design of passenger airplanes with more than two engines.
With 83 airplanes in service with 11 customers, 747-8s have logged more than 619,000 flight hours and more than 101,000 flight cycles.
Copyright Photo: Nick Dean/AirlinersGallery.com. Boeing 747-8KZF N50217 (JA12KZ) (msn 36137) climbs away from Paine Field near Everett.
Boeing 747 aircraft slide show: 
