After sending founder Richard Branson into space, Virgin Galactic is restarting ticket sales starting at $ 450,000, the company said.
The new price is roughly double the US $ 200,000-250,000 paid by around 600 people who previously reserved seats on the Virgin spacecraft, as the company seeks to build on the success of the crewed test flight full last month.
Its next flight will take place in September and will involve members of the Italian Air Force, a paying customer. The space tourism company said it was making progress towards launching paid flights next year. It will sell individual seats, packages and entire flights.
“Prices for these offers will start at $ 450,000 per seat”Virgin Galactic said in a statement released on the occasion of its quarterly results.
“Sales will initially be open to the list of those who showed up very early”, the company said. These people already on the waiting list “Will have priority” to buy their ticket.
In June, Virgin Galactic received approval from the US aviation safety regulator to transport people into space.
The sales will first open to the large list of “Early hand lifters” of the business, he said. The company has announced that it will offer three mainstream offerings: a single seat, a multi-seat package and a full buyout.
Amazon founder Jeff Bezos staged his own rival rocket flight just days after Branson, ushering in a new era in space tourism fueled by competition between billionaires. Elon Musk’s SpaceX has already become a key partner of the US space agency Nasa.
Virgin Galactic’s next space flight is scheduled for late September in New Mexico with the Italian Air Force.
Virgin Galactic announced the deals, reporting Thursday that it lost $ 94 million in the second quarter due to soaring SG&A costs. The company had sales of $ 571,000, barely enough to cover a seat on a future flight.
.