The troubled military aircraft being part-built in Bristol will fly by the end of the year, an Airbus boss pledged in parliament.

Work on the A400M has been dogged by problems and its maiden flight, due to happen two years ago, has been repeatedly delayed.

That will now be carried out within the next seven weeks, head of research Gareth Williams told the powerful Commons Business, Innovation and Skills committee.

He was quizzed by MPs as part of a new investigation into the UK's aerospace industry, which is examining how effective government support has been in shoring up the sector long-term.

The Filton site is building the wings of the aircraft, designed to carry tanks. Airbus has around 7,000 staff locally but its future affects around 37,000 workers across the South West who are employed in small and medium-sized businesses in the supply chain.

Mr Williams admitted the company had a bad track record in the past for paying those businesses on time.

But, it had made significant improvements, he insisted, when asked by the committee.

"I'm confident we were paying much more on time than we were. Hand on heart, in every circumstance, I couldn't guarantee it, but we have made significant improvements."

Airbus has managed to weather the current global economic storm because lead-times on orders are so long, the committee was told. Falling profitability for airlines, however, has led to some cancelling their orders, after passengers numbers fell by seven per cent and freight demand went down by 17 per cent.

But the company does still have healthy order books with 3,520 contracts for aircraft.

Government funding is key, however, to ensuring the company can compete internationally in the aerospace industry.

Calls in the past for it to be left to the demands of market forces were widely dismissed because all other governments plough billions into local firms, particularly America.

MPs were also told that "launch loans," given to help new production lines get under way, had actually proved very lucrative for the tax payer as they had been repaid with interest.

Kingswood MP Roger Berry, a member of the committee, told the Evening Post: "We would not be part of the European partnership that we are if the government had not put in launch investment."