EADS will not reach a board decision on approving a 90-seat turboprop from ATR this year.

During its annual results presentation in Paris today, EADS chief financial officer Hans-Peter Ring said the larger aircraft was simply the subject of a feasibility study.

He also pointed out that engineering resources were a major sticking-point for making progress on such a programme.

Ring insisted that there would be no decision on going ahead with a 90-seat aircraft "any time soon" and ruled out approval this year.

ATR and rival Bombardier have each been examining the possibility of larger variants of their turboprop families, although ATR had appeared the more enthusiastic of the two.

Last year ATR secured 157 firm orders but EADS revised this figure today to 119, after the airframer opted to discount Kingfisher Airlines' order for 38.

Source: Air Transport Intelligence news