|
ITT: Virgin Galactic targets 50,000 flyers
Tuesday, June 09, 2009 Virgin Galactic hopes to carry 50,000 passengers in its first decade of operations.
Speaking at the ITT conference in Dubai chief executive Stephen Attenborough revealed that 320 people have already booked a flight into space at the $200,000 price tag. “Before investing millions of pounds we needed to show that there was a market for this – and we now have $40 million in a bank from forward bookings for a product nobody has seen yet. “There is an appetite, 90,000 people have registered interest and that number will grow when the price eventually falls.” Attenborough said the project brings the Virgin brand into the 21st century and epitomises the innovative and ground-breaking culture of the company. He stressed the importance of the low-carbon nature of the flights and the minimal amount of fuel used to get into space. “It is the flagship project of Virgin and is great for the brand. “But on another level the brand is being used to showcase cutting edge technology in aviation. “It sends a message to those who supply aircraft that more fuel-efficient ways of flying are possible and that as a buyer of aircraft fuel efficiency is important. “That is why the next set of aircraft on order for Virgin are the Boeing 787s because they are by far the most fuel efficient in their class.” Virgin Galactic’s technology is also being looked at for various other uses aside from space tourism including satellite launches and solar power. Branson believes one day the technology will allow a flight to Australia to take no more than a couple of hours by leaving the Earth’s atmosphere and re-entering elsewhere. Attenborough said the company was two thirds of the way towards the first space tourist flight. • 'Technology will drive cuts in CO2' (14 May 2009) • Rival firm aims to undercut Virgin Galactic (1 Nov 2006)
|
|
|||||||
