UPDATE 1-EADS in "major crisis", probes A380 delay Thu Jun 15, 2006 11:50am ET Email This Article | Print This Article | Reprints [-] Text [+] (Rewrites, adds details) By Tim Hepher PARIS, June 15 (Reuters) - Airbus parent EADS (EAD.PA: Quote, Profile, Research) has launched an inquiry into the sudden disclosure of A380 delivery delays which melted its stock and pushed the planemaker into a "major crisis," its co-chairman was quoted on Thursday as saying. Frenchman Arnaud Lagardere said he would not look for any quick scapegoats, but fired a warning shot over the futures of Airbus chief Gustav Humbert and the co-CEO of EADS, Noel Forgeard, who has apologised to investors over the affair. "I don't want to over-react and force heads to roll just to please the markets," Lagardere told Le Monde in an interview published a day after EADS stock fell by 26 percent. "The question I am asking is whether the head of Airbus knew about the internal situation," Lagardere told the newspaper. "Before punishing anyone, we are going to carry out a deep dive into the group to find out where the production problems are. We have already found some. There is no question of making someone at the bottom of the company pay the price." The disclosure of further six-month delays due to wiring problems identical to ones identified last year shocked the industry after Airbus and EADS insisted the programme was on track in recent weeks. Airlines clamoured for compensation. "We are facing a major crisis and I put myself in the position of shareholders and analysts who do not understand this new delay," Lagardere, whose family media group owns 7.5 percent of EADS, told Le Monde. Continued... Roger & Amanda La France