Crunch day in jets trade row.

Byline: DAVID JONES

AIRBUS and its US rival Boeing expect to find out today who has won the first round of their epic trade dispute.

A panel of World Trade Organisation (WTO) judges will rule in Geneva, Switzerland, on a five-year-old US complaint that accuses European governments of unfairly financing Airbus' development of new aircraft.

Some observers believe the WTO will come down against Airbus, but to what degree remains to be seen. And it is far from clear how seriously that will impact on the activities of the aircraft manufacturer which has a wingmaking plant at Broughton, Flintshire.

The US hopes the trade body will condemn the European Union, representing Britain, France, Germany and Spain, for providing what it calls illegal subsidies such as launch aid for the A380 superjumbo and other planes.

The WTO is scheduled to rule within six months on a European counter-claim against what it claims is backdoor US assistance such as military contracts, NASA research grants and state tax breaks that it claims helped Boeing develop the new 787 Dreamliner and other aircraft.

Frederik Erixon, of Brussels think-tank that European Centre for International Political Economy, said: "Boeing is going to win on key issues in the first ruling and Airbus is going to win on key issues in the second ruling."

The WTO's first decision comes as both plane companies wrestle with a global recession that has hit airlines hard and slowed plane orders.

The US firm says its competitor used hundreds of millions of pounds in low-interest government loans to develop new jetliner models.

Now it wants to stop European governments from helping to fund the development of its mid-size, long-haul A350 XWB, a rival to the Dreamliner.

Airbus has already received commitments from European governments totalling pounds 2.6bn -including pounds 340m from the UK -in loans to help it develop that plane.The pounds 340m is being part-used to build and equip a new A350 wing factory at Broughton.

The European Commission says today's preliminary ruling should have no impact on launch aid for the A350. But it could affect competition for a pounds 21.5bn US Air Force contract for air-to-air refuelling tankers.

Airbus parent group EADS is bidding with American partner Northrop Grumman against Boeing for the Pentagon project.

The fear is that Boeing's political supporters could be able to use a WTO victory as a lever to block Airbus' route to the tanker work Opinion - Page 14

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The World Trade Organisation is due to rule on support aid for the A380 superjumbo seen here flying past the Airbus factory at Broughton where its wings are made