PARIS (AP) — Airbus parent EADS insisted Thursday that it is too early to say whether the troubled A380 superjumbo jet faces further production hitches, after a minority shareholder said another delay is likely. Mike Turner, chief executive of BAE Systems, said Wednesday he would be "surprised if there weren't" any further delays. BAE owns 20% of Airbus and is planning to sell the stake to European Aeronautic Defence and Space, which owns the remaining 80%.But a spokesman for EADS said Thursday that the superjumbo's delivery schedule would not become clear until the results of a program audit are presented to the board the end of September. "I don't know where he (Turner) has that information from," EADS spokesman Michael Hauger said. "The audit which EADS is doing at Airbus on the A380 is still ongoing."
Turner also said he believes there are risks over Airbus' A400M military transport plane program. EADS and Airbus officials have repeatedly denied newspaper reports that the program also faces long delays.