Paris - European aerospace group EADS said Thursday that the first flight of its new A400M multi-purpose military transport plane has been postponed "because of the unavailability of the propulsion system."

The postponement is another blow for EADS, which has already lost billions of euros because of delays to its A380 superjumbo and A350XWB aircraft.

Barbara Kracht, a spokeswoman for EADS subsidiary Airbus, which is building the A400M, told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa that it was too early to speculate about how long the setback would delay delivery of the plane.

"We cannot say anything until we have results of the tests," Kracht said.

In its press statement, EADS said that the timing of the first flight "depends on the results of the test campaign to be done on the flying test bed, which should start in the coming weeks, and on the readiness of the propulsion system."

EADS currently has 192 orders for the A400M on the books, with Germany having ordered 60 of the four-engine planes and France 50.

France was originally scheduled to take delivery of the first A400M in 2009, but EADS said deliveries would be delayed by one year. However, analysts believe the delays will be significantly longer.

The new delay is certain to cost the company a significant amount in penalty payments.

The weekly Le Point reported Thursday that EADS head Louis Gallois has written to A400M customers asking that they not impose penalties because of delivery delays.

The A400M has been developed since 2003 at a cost of 20 billion euros (29.3 billion dollars), making it Europe's largest-ever military procurement program. (dpa)