European plane-maker Airbus said Monday it had detected a "quality issue" affecting metal panels on its popular A320 passenger jet but the problem was "contained".

"Airbus confirms it has identified a supplier quality issue affecting a limited number of A320 metal panels," a spokeswoman for the company told AFP, confirming earlier media reports.

"Airbus is taking a conservative approach and is inspecting all aircraft potentially impacted -- knowing that only a portion of them will need further action to be taken," she added.

"The source of the issue has been identified, contained and all newly produced panels conform to all requirements."

Shares in Airbus earlier fell more than 10 percent on Monday in Paris following media reports that quality problems with fuselage panels had delayed

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