In the late 1970s, Boeing Commercial Airplanes, the passenger and cargo arm of the legacy American manufacturer, decided it needed a new wide-body airliner to complement the Boeing 747 in its commercial lineup. Amid the introduction of Extended-Range Twin-Engine Operational Performance Standards (ETOPS), which allowed aircraft with just two engines to fly significantly further, Boeing believed it was time for a more efficient twin-engine long-range aircraft to enter the market.