ETOPS is the acronym for Extended-range Twin-engine Operation Performance Standards, presently, Extended Operations. ETOPS are standards established by ICAO that allow certain aeroplanes to distance themselves over 60 minutes from an alternative airport.
With advances in engine manufacturing, aircraft were increasingly able to fly further and further, and it became inefficient for them to necessarily pass within such short distances of alternative airports.
To put you into context, we are talking about the 1980s, when aeroplanes such as MD-11 or L-1011 TriStar were at their all time best.
With the passing of time, the industry moved onto long range twin engine aircraft as their operation is simpler and operational costs are lower. Models like the Boeing 757 or Airbus A330 emerge at this time.
As these are twin engine aeroplanes, we go back to square one, aeroplanes cannot be far away from alternative airports. It was then that the need to create ETOPS came up.
The Airbus A350 boasts a 370 ETOPS certification whereas the Boeing 777 holds an ETOPS 330. This means that these aeroplanes can practically fly in a straight line to any destination in the world. With such high certification, they really only have restrictions in some areas of the Antarctic.
You already know what ETOPS planning is and how certification is obtained, but how about route planning?
The first thing we have to do is determine where the origin and destination airports are on the map.
Once this is done, we will search for the alternative airports and from them, circles will be drawn whose circumference will have a radium equivalent to the aircrafts’ ETOPS certification.
Finally, we draw our route so that the airplane flies through, at least, one of these circles.
