Boeing confirmed Tuesday its new 787 Dreamliner aircraft is on track for its first flight and deliveries in 2008, saying problems that forced a prior delay had been largely resolved.

The Boeing Company said the revised 787 schedule, including a first flight at the end of the first quarter and first deliveries in November or December, was expected to be met.

"The schedule we revealed in October is unchanged," said Boeing Commercial Airplanes president and chief executive Scott Carson during a conference call.

Carson also reiterated the company's objective of delivering 109 of the fuel-efficient aircraft by the end of 2009.

The US aerospace giant is battling Europe's Airbus for supremacy in civil aviation, and has profited from Airbus's delay of its new super-jumbo A380 plane.

In early August, Boeing announced a delay in the planned first flight of the 787 citing problems in assembling the first of the aircraft, including parts shortages and difficulties in software and systems integration.

By mid-October the aerospace giant announced that it was delaying its first delivery of the 787 by six months to November or December 2008.

Boeing said Tuesday that it is finalizing structures and systems and is on track for the "significant milestone" of "power on" on the first aircraft around the end of January 2008.

Pat Shanahan, vice president and general manager of the 787 program, said Boeing has already agreed the requirements for type certification with the Federal Aviation Administration.

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