BILLIONS of pounds worth of work on wings for a new generation of airborne refuelling tankers for the US Air Force is slipping away from Airbus’s plant at Broughton, near Chester.

Airbus parent company EADS has ruled out a solo bid for the lucrative military contract a day after its American partner, Northrop Grumman, revealed it was pulling out.

Wings for the aircraft would constitute around 20% of the value of the £27bn order – meaning that Broughton could get work worth £5bn.

That would have helped to secure thousands of jobs at the site for a number of years, and ensured a more even balance of work between wings on civilian jetliners, where demand has been hit by the downturn in global aviation, and military work.

The EADS/Northrop Grumman consortium had first won the tanker contract in 2008, with air force generals agreeing that the Airbus plane was the superior of the two offered, only for Boeing to successfully challenge the process and force the Pentagon to re-run the competition.

The partnership had been up against US rival aircraft manufacturer Boeing and strong political lobbying in Washington to get the tanker order swung the way of the Chicago-based business.

EADS chief executive Louis Gallois said Northrop’s withdrawal from the tanker tender meant Airbus had “no chance to win in the competition in these conditions”.

Airbus chief executive Tom Enders also dampened talk of an independent European bid, barring a change in the situation. He said: “Under the current conditions, a bid makes no economic sense for Airbus.”

Alyn & Deeside MP Mark Tami said last night that Airbus’s parent group had withdrawn because it was clear the competition was being rigged so that only Boeing could win.