Diamond Aircraft Industries

Diamond Aircraft Industries is a European manufacturer of general aviation aircraft and motor gliders, based in Austria. It has been a subsidiary of the Chinese company Wanfeng Aviation since 2017. It is the third largest manufacturer of aircraft for the general aviation sector, and has manufacturing facilities in Wiener Neustadt, Lower Austria, and in London, Ontario, Canada, as well as further production lines operated as joint ventures in other nations, such as China.

The company was founded by Austrian aircraft designer Wolf Hoffmann in 1981, at which point it was known as Hoffmann Flugzeugbau. Its first aircraft, a motor glider initially known as the HK36 Dimona, became a commercial success and led to improved models and further types of aircraft derived from it. Following several changes in ownership and naming, the company received the name Diamond Aircraft Industries in 1998. By this point, Diamond was producing a range of light aircraft, including the Dimona, the Diamond DA20, and the in-development Diamond DA40.

In 2004, Diamond introduced its first multi-engined aircraft, the Diamond DA42 Twin Star. Demand from government operators led to the development of the Aeronautics Defense Dominator, a medium-altitude long-endurance (MALE) unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) used for aerial surveillance. For several years, the company was developing a single-engined very light jet, the Diamond D-Jet, intended for both private and military customers. However, due to the Great Recession, development of the jet slowed and was ultimately discontinued in 2013.