WASHINGTON, June 30 The United States on Wednesday claimed a “landmark victory” in a WTO ruling over its complaint on multibillion dollar subsidies for Airbus as the European aerospace giant was expected to appeal.

Boeing said it had won a “sweeping legal victory” following the ruling that some European state subsidies to Airbus are illegal and insisted the decision required Airbus to repay $4 billion, a claim disputed by the France-based firm.

“Boeing is deliberately misleading the public in claiming that repayment by Airbus in any amount is required,” said Airbus spokesman Rainer Ohler in a statement, adding the company “deplores this active misinformation.”

Boeing CEO Jim McNerney meanwhile called the WTO panel's move “a landmark decision and sweeping legal victory over the launch aid subsidies that fuelled the rise of Airbus.

The six-year US complaint had held unfair subsidies from the EU to Airbus worth up to $200 billion (139 billion euros) helped the European maker seize more than half of the market for civil airlines.

McNerney said the Office of the US Trade Representative deserves “tremendous credit” for the decision.

“We now join the US government in urging full compliance with the ruling and a permanent restoration of fair competition within our industry,” he said.

US Trade Representative Ron Kirk claimed a “landmark victory” in the ruling, which he said would “benefit American aerospace workers, who have had to endure watching Airbus receive these massive subsidies for more than 40 years.”

The subsidies, Kirk said, “have greatly harmed the United States, including causing Boeing to lose sales and market share. Today's ruling helps level the competitive playing field with Airbus.”

An industry source has warned the European Union would appeal the ruling.

Seventy per cent of the US claims “were rejected and wild allegations have been proven wrong,” Airbus said in a statement.

“Neither jobs nor any profits were lost as a result of reimbursable loans to Airbus,” said the European aircraft maker.

Brussels has yet to decide whether or how precisely it will appeal, pending WTO findings expected July 16 on a parallel probe into US state aid for Boeing expected.

EU trade chiefs expressed “disappointment” following Wednesday's ruling as EU Trade Commissioner Karel De Gucht insisted the report “needs to be read together with the forthcoming interim report on subsidies provided in the US to Boeing.”

The decision, revealed confidentially to both parties three months ago, is the long awaited findings on a US complaint launched in 2004 over what Washington claimed was unfair state support for Airbus.—AFP