International Business

Thai Airways Board OKs Jet Purchase: The airline’s directors approved a plan to order 21 new airplanes in the next five years at an estimated cost of $5 billion. It also approved the sale of 31 planes from its fleet to help pay for the new aircraft and make its fleet composition more efficient, said Siripong Thongyai, chairman of Thai Airways International. Among the new planes will be six Boeing 777s with Rolls-Royce engines. Other planes to be purchased are five Airbus 300-600s with General Electric engines, four Airbus 330s with GE engines, four Boeing 737-400s or 737-500s with GE engines and two Boeing 747-400s with GE engines, a Bangkok newspaper reported.