Branson Owned Space Tourism Firm Posts Net Loss in Quarterly Reports

Space tourism company Virgin Galactic Holdings Inc. (SPCE) reported its fourth quarter results on Tuesday posting a $73 million loss for the quarter. The company owned by famous billionaire Richard Branson seems to be performing poorly considering it posted a loss of $46 million during a similar quarter a year ago.

Virgin Galactic went down on record as the first space company to go public following its Initial public offering which took place last year.

During the quarterly reports CEO of the company George Whitesides said the results included a one-time transaction and other related costs. He also pointed out they are geared towards launching a first commercial flight in due course of the year.

The CEO says launching of the commercial flight will be a trans-formative moment for the company. He said the process will include Richard Branson.

The company is competing to become the first to offer suborbital flights to fare-paying thrill seekers, presaging a new era of civilian space travel that may be starting before the year ends.

“Some 600 people from 60 countries have paid or put down deposits to fly on one of Virgin’s suborbital flights, worth about $80 million in total collected deposits and $120 million of potential revenue,” said Virgin Galactic.

The company says it has invested $1 billion in its reusable mid-air launch technology, additionally it has ongoing talks with United Arab Emirates and Italy for potential spaceports.

Other players in this industry include Blue Origin owned by Amazon’s Inc. (AMZN) founder and CEO Jeff Bezos and SapceX owned by Tesla’s Inc. (TSLA) founder and CEO Elon Musk.