LONDON (Dow Jones) -- EADS, the European defense company and Airbus parent, on Thursday disclosed that its A380 super-jumbo program would be further delayed because of continuing wiring issues, but said it's too early to gauge the financial impact of the latest setbacks or to set a new delivery schedule for the aircraft.

It is the third announcement of delays to the flagship Airbus project, which is already running a year behind schedule. EADS said it was working on an action plan with customers and would provide more information within four weeks.

EADS shares were down 1.9% in Paris morning trading.

"The current status is that we have not finalized the schedule of deliveries nor the financial impact of any delays," the company said in a statement. "All appropriate resources are focused on bringing the ongoing assessment to maturity."

It added that "continuing industrialization challenges with the wiring of production aircraft have been identified and are being tackled."

Thursday's announcement is the latest in a string of reports from the company since June 14, when its stock plummeted 26% after it announced that deliveries of the A380 would be postponed as long as six months.

At the time, the news sparked the departure of Co-Chief Executive Noel Forgeard and Airbus Chief Gustav Humbert. Earlier this month, Charles Champion, the head of the A380 program, was succeeded by Mario Heine, who previously led the single-aisle unit.

The fresh delays play into the hands of arch-rival Boeing (Charts), which only Wednesday picked up half of a $6 billion order from Russian state-controlled airline Aeroflot. That order was meant to go only to Airbus.

Airbus is owned 80% by EADS and 20% by the U.K. defense contractor BAE Systems (Charts).

BAE Systems' Turner had warned.

The first indications of potential new delays emerged last week when The Wall Street Journal cited BAE Systems Chief Executive Mike Turner as saying all the ingredients were in place for further turbulence.

Turner also said on a call with journalists, following BAE's first-half results last week, that he wouldn't be surprised if there was a call on shareholders to invest cash in Airbus.

BAE wants to sell its 20% holding to co-parent EADS. The board of BAE Systems is advising its shareholders to approve the sale at a meeting on Oct. 4, though the agreed price is lower than initially expected.

Deutsche Bank analysts told clients on Wednesday that a further six-month setback for the A380 could cut an additional 200 million ($254 million) to 250 million euros from Airbus forecasts of earnings before interest and taxes in 2007 and 2008, on top of the 500-million-euro annual impact announced in June.

"This would represent a 10% downgrade to our 2007 and 2008 Airbus EBIT forecasts and a 6% to 7% downgrade to group EBIT forecasts," the broker said.

The A380's woes stem mainly from electrical-wiring problems and have prompted calls for compensation from customers, some of whom have hinted they might reconsider their orders.

Analysts for Kepler Equities on Thursday said the main worry for Airbus is the risk of cancellations.

An Air France (Charts) spokesman said the airline had been informed of a "new delivery schedule."

Emirates, by far the largest customer for the $300 million plane, with 43 orders, on Wednesday said it expects its first delivery of the aircraft in October 2007.

Meanwhile Singapore Airlines (Charts), another large A380 customer, recently changed its slogan to "First to fly the A380 in 2006" to "First to fly the A380." (END) Dow Jones Newswires 09-21-06 0448ET Copyright (c) 2006 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.