Boeing urges EU to hold back on A350 aircraft aid to Airbus.

UNITED States aircraft manufacturer Boeing says that, with a ruling in the offing on a key World Trade Organisation case, it hopes European gover nments will not inflame the situation by providing launch aid for Airbus's latest jet.

Wings for the new A350 longrange jet will be made at Airbus's plant at Broughton, near Chester, and Airbus is looking for pounds 700m repayable launch aid from the UK gover nment towards the pounds 9bn cost of developing the plane.

But an announcement on that may be delayed because a preliminary ruling is due at the end of August in a World Trade Organisation (WTO) case brought by the US against European Union launch aid for Airbus. The ruling, to be followed about six months later by a decision in a countersuit brought by the EU over US support for Boeing airliners, would be a first attempt at resolving the long-running, multi-billion-pound transatlantic dispute.

The French and German gover nments have already said they are willing to give loans totalling just over pounds 2bn for the A350 project, and Britain and possibly Spain are expected to follow suit.