China Airlines has received approval from its board to place an order for six Boeing 777-300ER aircraft.
The announcement was made on the Taiwan Stock Exchange, but details were scant.
A spokeswoman contacted said the board's decision was made on 6 December and that the Taiwanese airline will now work with Boeing on the formal order. She declined to say when the aircraft will be scheduled for delivery.
Last month, China Airlines told Flightglobal that it was assessing the Airbus A350-1000 and the 777-300ER to replace some of its aging and fuel-hungry Boeing 747-400s.
The SkyTeam alliance member operates a fleet of 13 747-400s and another 55 Airbus A330s, A340s and Boeing 737s.
It also has orders for 14 A350-900s, which are due to be delivered from 2016 and options for another six more. The airline had said that it could convert some of these to the -1000 variant, while the -900 variants will be used to replace its A340s and grow capacity.
China Airlines expects to receive one more A330-300 in 2013 and 2014 respectively, for a total of 24 of the type. It will also receive three 737-800s in 2013 and three more in 2014, for a total of 16 of the narrowbody aircraft.
Source: Air Transport Intelligence news
