The conspiracy theorist in me would quote Mandy Rice Davies 'Well, he would (say that) wouldn't he?', but I specifically raised that wing issue with a very senior manager a few days ago. The denial started with a laugh, then exasperation in the voice saying 'NO - and you are the 3rd person TODAY to ask me that!'. The discussion then moved on to how to stop rumours as you are damned if you do and damned if you don't. The fear was that as soon as something as serious as that type of issue is mentioned in a print denial, it may lead to it gaining even more traction, and further afield.
I'm convinced that the manager in question was being honest by saying NOT TRUE, and was genuinely exasperated at the extent of the rumour and more concerned at how to shut it down without creating a
PR nightmare. Of course, whether said manager was being lied to themselves is a question I cannot answer....