Thai Airways International's board has approved a US$12.5 billion fleet expansion and modernisation plan that should include the purchase of 65 new narrowbody and widebody aircraft over 10 years.

The board met on September 17 to review management's plan and the carrier says that if government approval is secured it will comprise the purchase of 65 new aircraft between 2008 and 2017 - excluding the more than a dozen aircraft already on order such as Airbus A330-300 twinjets and ultra-large Airbus A380s.

State-controlled Thai says the board-supported proposals will now be forwarded to several government departments for approval. It adds that 47 of the 65 aircraft it intends to purchase will be for replacement purposes and the remainder for growth. After government approvals are secured, deals can be negotiated with manufacturers.

The Star Alliance carrier does not identify specific aircraft types it wants to acquire, but says the plan is to order: 16 aircraft seating between 300 and 500 passengers 29 aircraft seating between 250 and 350 passengers and 20 aircraft seating between 150 and 250 passengers.

"The total investment figure is approximately 400,000 million baht [US$12.5 billion]," it says.

The airline says no firm decisions have been taken on which aircraft types are to be ordered. Senior executives have said, however, that the carrier is considering ordering Boeing 747-8s in the 300- to 500-seat category Airbus A350s and/or Boeing 787s in the 250- to 350-seat category and Airbus A321s and/or Boeing 737-900s in the 150- to 250-seat category.

"The aircraft to be purchased will include long-range aircraft for operation between regions, mid- to long-range aircraft for operation within the [Asia-Pacific] region, and [narrowbody] aircraft for domestic and regional operations," Thai says.

Earlier this year the Star Alliance carrier said it was drawing up a new business plan for the 2008-17 period that would include proposals for the replacement of dozens of older aircraft in its fleet and the purchase of additional aircraft for expansion.

Thai's fleet now comprises more than 80 aircraft, including Airbus A300-600s, A330-300s, A340-500/600s, Boeing 737-400s, 747-400s, and 777-200/200ER/300s. Under the proposed fleet modernisation and expansion it expects to be operating 117 aircraft in 2017.