Turkish Airlines is considering options to increase its fleet of Airbus and Boeing passenger aircraft, though it has yet to decide on size or quantity, airline executives told a finance industry conference. The Turkish flag carrier has been expanding rapidly in recent years, placing large plane orders with both U.S. manufacturer Boeing and Europe's Airbus. "Most probably we will need large aircraft, but cargo capacity is important for us. It is under discussion at high levels in the board now at Turkish Airlines," Levent Konukcu, senior vice-president of investment management at Turkish Airlines, said at the Istat Europe air finance conference. He said the airline was looking at models including the Boeing 787, the Airbus A350, up to the A380 or the Boeing 777X. "All these aircraft (options) are on the table; we will see," he added. Airbus and Boeing have been trying to sell their largest aircraft - the 525-seat A380 and 467-seat 747-8 - to the airline as it seeks to use its geographical position and popularity as a final destination to capture traffic from both European rivals and the mainly transit-based Gulf carriers. Turkish Airlines has said it aims to carry 59.5 million passengers in 2014, up from 48.3 million in 2013. Large Jets In February, Turkish Airlines said it was studying the feasibility of acquiring either the A380 or 747-8, but political analysts have said the matter is partly influenced by uncertainty over Turkey's stalled efforts to join the European Union, as well as airport capacity issues and slot constraints. There has also been industry speculation that the airline could initially be tempted to "wet lease" A380s, which is an agreement for one airline to rent planes from another complete with crew and maintenance. Turkish Airlines has in the past used a different kind of lease to rent Boeing 777 aircraft from Jet Airways. Turkish Airlines already has established ties through a codeshare agreement with Malaysia Airlines, an A380 operator that is looking for urgent solutions to bring in cash and restructure its operations following two aviation disasters. Speaking at the same conference earlier in the week, Turkish Airlines' Chief Executive Temel Kotil did not rule out orders for the very large jets, but placed greater emphasis on smaller twin-engined, long-haul jets, which have outsold the four-engined jumbos in recent years. "We are not against any type of aircraft but recently we have (ordered) the 777 for long-haul and Airbus and Boeing narrowbodies for medium-haul," he said, while the airline has also ordered the Airbus A330 long-haul jet. "They work very well for us. I don't want to say anything for the future. We have made no decision," Kotil said. Air France meanwhile confirmed that the airline, which is undergoing a stormy restructuring, was unlikely to take delivery of the last two of 12 long-haul A380s it has ordered. "I think we are pretty much fine with 10 aircraft today," Bruno Delile, senior vice president of new aircraft and corporate fleet planning at Air France-KLM said. Lufthansa's executive vice president for fleet management, Nico Buchholz, said the German group, which operates both A380s and 747s, could make small top-up purchases in that category if the market needed it. But for now, he said the airline's fleet and order book represented a "good fit for current needs and future needs". (Reuters)