The World Trade Organisation (WTO) has in principle accepted that European loans to Airbus did not contradict trade rules, an informed source told the German Press Agency dpa on Sunday.
The WTO distributed a much-anticipated, confidential report on Friday on the US government's claim that European Union nations gave over 4 billion dollars in subsidies to the aircraft maker for the development of the A380 Super-Jumbo airliner.
But US plane-maker Boeing has not succeeded in its goal of having the interest-bearing loans made in the past to Airbus classified by the WTO as illegal export subsidies, the source said. The 1,000-page report's findings will not be made public for several months, and a full exploration of the issue could take years. On Friday, US lawmakers were quoted in reports as saying that the report in fact found in favour of Boeing.