Airbus said it was on schedule to deliver its A380 super-jumbo to its biggest customer for the aircraft, Dubai-based Emirates, denying a media report saying delivery would be delayed by engine tests.
French newspaper Le Figaro reported the first of 43 of the $280 million planes had been due to be delivered in March 2007 but this would slip by three months.
It said Airbus could not give a precise date for tests of the A380 powered by the Engine Alliance GP 7200 engines developed jointly by GE Aircraft Engines and Pratt & Whitney. An Engine Alliance spokesman was not immediately available for comment.
The A380 began flights tests last year with the other engine being offered for the plane - the Rolls-Royce Trent 900. The GP 7200 version has not yet flown.
"Airbus is planning to fly the Engine Alliance aircraft this summer and this is in line with Emirates deliveries in spring 2007," a spokeswoman for the European planemaker said.
"We always said spring 2007 and it remains spring 2007," she added.
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