The European Union?s executive on Monday denied a report that the bloc had offered to delay launch aid for the new Airbus A350 to avert a litigation battle with Washington over aircraft subsidies. ?It is not a postponement. We don?t want to say we are postponing or delaying,? European Commission spokeswoman Claude Veron-Reville said.

The United States and the EU have missed the April 11 deadline they set to reach an accord on cutting state support for aircraft manufacturing rivals Boeing and Airbus. This has raised the prospect that they could reopen the legal cases they filed with the World Trade Organisation last year, but both sides have said they are ready to negotiate beyond the deadline.

The Financial Times on Monday reported that the EU had offered to hold back on fresh ?launch aid? loans for Airbus to allow time for further negotiations. However, Veron-Reville said it was up to EU member states to take a decision on whether to offer the company further support.