Virgin Galactic Shifts Focus, Halts Flights and Cuts Jobs to Develop Next-Gen Spacecraft
Virgin Galactic will reduce the frequency of its suborbital flights using the VSS Unity spaceplane and plans to halt them entirely by mid-2024 as it focuses on developing its next generation of vehicles, known as the Delta-class. The company will move to a quarterly flight schedule starting in January 2022 and may have one more mission in mid-2022. Virgin Galactic aims to concentrate resources on the Delta-class vehicles, which it considers crucial for its future. The company also announced layoffs and expense reductions, cutting 18% of its workforce, to support the development of the Delta-class. The remaining flights will focus on higher revenue opportunities, including research and potentially selling seats to private astronauts at a premium price. Once Unity flights end, staff will transition to a new factory near Phoenix to assist with the assembly of the first Delta-class vehicles. The company expects to begin Delta-class test flights in 2025 and commercial flights in 2026.
