Virgin Galactic reopens ticket sales, with prices starting at $450,000 per seat

Virgin Galactic delivered second-quarter results after the market closed on Thursday and announced that it will reopen ticket sales, with pricing beginning at $450,000 per seat.

The company also announced its next spaceflight test is targeting late September from Spaceport America in New Mexico, carrying members of the Italian Air Force.

Shares of Virgin Galactic rose 4% in after-hours trading from its close of $31.53.

Virgin Galactic reported an adjusted EBITDA loss of $56 million in the second quarter, just above the loss of $55.9 million in the prior quarter. It generated $571,000 of revenue in the second quarter, coming from the scientific research experiments onboard its May spaceflight test.

The company flew two spaceflight tests during the quarter, with the first marking its debut from Spaceport America in New Mexico. The second flight carried founder Richard Branson and three other mission specialists to test the vehicle’s cabin.

The company’s leadership previously announced that it would fly two more tests of spacecraft VSS Unity, with the first carrying another four “mission specialists” and the second flying members of the Italian Air Force. Branson had announced after his spaceflight that former Virgin Galactic CEO George Whitesides would fly on the company’s next spaceflight test, as CNBC reported last month. But that plan appears to have changed with the Italian spaceflight, designated as the Unity 23 flight, now scheduled next.

Virgin Galactic will then pause spaceflight operations for a previously announced four-month “enhancement period,” before then launching its Unity 24 spaceflight test. Then, with the Unity 25 flight, Virgin Galactic expects to begin commercial services with its first non-development flight.

The space tourism company is conducting the spaceflight tests as the final step in developing its vehicle, with the goal of beginning passenger flights in early 2022. The company has about 600 reservations for tickets on future flights, with those tickets sold largely between $200,000 and $250,000 each.

Virgin Galactic will have three different sales offerings, starting at $450,000 a seat, for space tourists: A single seat purchase, packaged seats for couples, friends or family, or opportunities to book entire flights. The company noted that sales will initially prioritize Virgin Galactic’s “significant list of early hand-raisers,” with a “follow-on priority list” to be opened for new customers.

Its spacecraft VSS Unity was designed to carry six passengers — in addition to two pilots — but the vehicle is now outfitted to carry four, with Virgin Galactic confirming that its spaceflight with Branson represented a “fully crewed” launch.