Jim McNerney, chief executive of Boeing, said that it was "business as usual", adding that the firm planned to go ahead with a planned ramp-up in production.

BBC: Dreamliner: Boeing defends 787 batteries

At the time the Dubai-based firm said it planned to make the group the UK's leading budget hotel operator by the 2012 Olympics.

BBC: Travelodge believes the UK hotel market is ripe for change

TXU, Texas's main power-generator, led the company to abandon eight out of 11 planned coal-fired power stations because the private equity firm concerned, Texas Pacific, wanted to square the environmental movement.

ECONOMIST: Cleaning up

Basildon was chosen by NYSE Euronext in part because the site, once planned as a distribution warehouse for an air-conditioning firm, offered proximity to London without flooding risk or being on flight paths.

ECONOMIST: A small town in Essex is an improbable capital-markets hub

Among the pioneers in this arena is RIRIC, the Vancouver-based global real estate investment firm, which has plans to launch multiple planned city sites around India in the next few years.

FORBES: Magazine Article

The Derby-based firm has bid for a contract to build 200 diesel trains, some planned to be used on the Great Western line, against rivals from Spain and China.

BBC: ?1bn plan to electrify rail line

On television on Tuesday morning, Flowers and Mark Winkelman , who was named chairman of Refco, insisted they planned to resuscitate the firm and possibly make a bid to buy Refco's securities-brokerage division.

FORBES: The Vultures Are Circling

Mr Burbage is also confident that once production at the firm's mile-long factory in Fort Worth ramps up to 17 aircraft a month, as planned, the more pessimistic unit-cost projections will start to fall.

ECONOMIST: The defence industry