Paris/New York  - European aerospace group EADS is willing to consider splitting a multi-billion-dollar US Air Force tanker deal with its American archrival Boeing, company head Louis Gallois was quoted on Friday as saying.

In return, Gallois told The New York Times, EADS and its American partner, Northrop Grumman, asked that they be allowed to build at least 12 tanker planes a year. That number was necessary to cover the cost of building a factory in Mobile, Alabama, he said.

Gallois made his comments after two US lawmakers proposed that the contract, worth an estimated 35 billion dollars, be split between the bidders.

The US Air Force has twice failed in its effort to award one of its biggest-ever contracts, which could be extended for decades and eventually cost 100 billion dollars for the construction of 400 tankers.

Last year, after EADS and Northrop Grumman were awarded the contract, Boeing filed a protest claiming that the procedure had been faulty. This prompted the Air Force to halt the bidding process.

As a result, two Democratic representatives, John Murtha of Pennsylvania and Neil Abercrombie of Delaware, suggested that the order be split.

However, Defence Secretary Robert Gates opposes dividing the contract. He said that setting up two production lines would make the cost of building the tankers even more expensive.(dpa)