Airbus on Wednesday said the ceremony planned for Saturday to deliver the jet to Qatar Airways had been postponed, without giving a new date.

"We planned 10 days for the delivery process. It was perhaps a little bit optimistic knowing it was the very first aircraft," Didier Evrard, head of the A350 programme told investors.

He said Airbus had already carried out three extra flights and still had two or three more to do.

He said though that he was confident the plane would be delivered before the end of the year.

(Reporting by Victoria Bryan; Editing by Arno Schuetze)