In the 1960s, American Airlines approached Lockheed and competitor Douglas (later McDonnell Douglas) with the need for an airliner smaller than the 747 capable of carrying a large passenger load to distant locales such as London and Latin America from company hubs at Dallas-Ft Worth and New York.
The design featured a twin-aisle interior with a maximum of 400 passengers, a three-engine layout, low noise emissions (in the early 1970s, Eastern Air Lines nicknamed the L-1011 "WhisperLiner"), improved reliability, and efficient operation.