The FAA has approved 240 minute ETOPS (increased from 204 minutes). Of course you'd never know it from the press release : http://www.faa.gov/news/press_releas...fm?newsId=7975

For some reason they failed to actually mention that twin-engined jetliners are now authorized to fly up to 4 hours on a single engine (after an engine failure).

Increasing the ETOPS radius does allow for additional options in the South Pacific, and requires even more stringent maintenance requirements to operate under the 240 rule.