The board of European aerospace group EADS is 90 per cent certain to agree today to finance the launch of Airbus's planned A350 mid-size, long-haul jet, a source close to the board told Reuters news agency today.
"There are two outstanding issues: state aid and the German position, but the hardest bits were dealt with yesterday," the source said.
The A350 extra-wide body, or "XWB", plane is essential for Airbus to compete with US rival Boeing in the mid-size jet market, although its launch comes as the pan-European firm is struggling to deliver on other key projects.
Britain's Financial Times reported today that EADS's shareholders had agreed details of a €10 billion financing package to launch the A350.
However, the FT's French sister paper, Les Echos, said the outcome of Friday's meeting was uncertain. "We have got out of the impasse, but there's no agreement yet," it quoted one unidentified source familiar with the situation as saying.
The Financial Times, citing people close to the talks, said the financing package included €4 billion in external financing backed by state guarantees from France, Germany, Britain and Spain, the countries that have backed Airbus.
The French government, which holds 15 per cent of EADS, agreed to provide a guarantee for part of the financing plan, according to the newspaper. The French finance ministry could not immediately be reached for comment.
The remaining €6 billion of development cost would be funded internally by EADS, possibly through the issue of hybrid debt, the FT said.