Story ID: 
New Business Aircraft 2003
By: Chad Trautvetter
Caption: When the going gets tough, the tough get going.
Word Count: 197
When the going gets tough, the tough get going. At least it seems to be this way in the aviation industry. As the economy continues to attempt recovery, would-be and established aircraft manufacturers alike are pushing ahead with their latest and greatest business aircraft designs, hoping to be well positioned for better economic times. While one could argue that this list includes derivatives of in-service aircraft, more than half are actually clean-sheet designs, which require much more funding to bring to fruition by virtue of their appetite for time and engineering expertise.Very light jets are the buzzword these days, and so far seven companies are working on aircraft in this class. While the most attention is being given to that segment, several firms are turning their attention to the turboprop-single category. There are currently six turboprop singles in the works, which will compete with no less than five models currently in production.Not included in this report are aircraft programs put on hold or those that have made no measurable progress in the past year. Many of these programs obviously have been plagued by funding problems in these lean economic times.In this special report, AIN