Cufflinks and Caribbean: how Virgin Galactic has kept the interest and money of tourists from space

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colorado (Reuters) – Virgin Galactic's goal of bringing tourists into space this summer is about 12 years later than the one originally announced by its founder, British billionaire Sir Richard Branson.

But many of his clients, including Gisli Gislason, are not sweaty.

A few minutes later, Gislason is among space enthusiasts with Branson, another adrenaline junkie known for his exceptional stunts, but also for launching his own airline.

"It's more than just a trip to space, it's a huge and permanent event," said Icelandic ticket holder Gislason, who has the Virgin Galactic logo on his arm and bought his ticket for space in 2010. "I've already paid, so I'm just for a bonus," he added.

Gislason's experience is not a coincidence.

Since its inception, Virgin Galactic has specifically set a goal to retain customers, knowing that its attempt to become the first space network in the world would probably have many setbacks. Thus, featuring its best seller Branson, the company has given priority to the exclusive experiences of its "future astronauts", creating a community that has remained faithful over the years, during which very tight deadlines have been imposed and a fatal crash of 2014.

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Waiting for their trip, some since 2004, Virgin ticket holders are busy with treats on earth: from the tailor-made solar eclipse festival in Idaho and test flights to the desert desert. Mojave California, ship-shaped cufflinks during Christmas and group tours on the private island of Branson in the Caribbean, where they can play tennis with the famous entrepreneur and exchange ideas design for spaceflight around a campfire.

"One of our astronauts once said to me:" Do not fly, we love to spend all that time in the game reserve in Africa or Necker Island, "Branson told Reuters in an exclusive interview.

"These long preliminaries can be pretty good, the bad is pretty fast," he says with a laugh.

Ticket holders pay for some of these particularly upscale events, but only cover the trip for others.

"It was a convincing part of the package," said Mark Rocket, a New Zealander who changed his name almost 20 years ago and signed with Virgin Galactic in 2006. "It's not only these few minutes in the space. "

More than 600 people from 58 countries have issued a 90-minute flight bond at a cost of $ 250,000, up from $ 200,000 in 2013. The first 100 "founders" will enter a draw to determine who will fly as soon as possible. possible. The company plans to increase the frequency of flights as they build their space fleet.

He has collected about $ 80 million in notes deposits, money that CEO George Whitesides said the company was not using for the development of spacecraft. Most of this funding comes from the Virgin Group and the Abu Dhabi Mubadala Investment Group.

Aside from the fact that Branson himself will be on the first scheduled flight, the company has not revealed which ticket holders will be first, although Branson is considering the possibility that some customers will exceed the price to be able to pay the bills.

"We think there is a market that would be willing to pay a million dollars for a previous flight, and we have a few slots at that price," Branson told Reuters.

The "future astronauts" registered range from billionaires to people who have changed their homes to pay for the ride, from pop star Justin Bieber to Mary Wallace "Wally" Funk, 80, one of the women say "Mercury 13" who had the 1960s were pbading the same tests as male astronauts before funding the program.

Virgin's decision to engage customers long before the development and testing of a commercial spacecraft contrasts with Blue Origin, founded by Jeff Bezos, who will only sell tickets for his suborbital flights once his flight tests are complete. crew completed.

"It would not have been a Virgin company if we had hidden our business, built a customer-free spacecraft and deployed it once everything was ready and tested," said Stephen Attenborough, chief commercial officer and first employee at Full time Virgin Galactic.

Now, after a crewed SpaceShipTwo test flight in December 2018 and another carrying a test pbadenger in February, Virgin Galactic is getting closer to the commercial flight. Blue Origin's New Shepard rocket has reached space but its first manned spaceflight is still scheduled for this year, and it has not yet determined the price of the ticket or when it will start taking reservations.

Elon Musk's SpaceX is also in the running: last year, he appointed Japanese fashion mogul Yusaku Maezawa as his first client on a trip around the moon, scheduled for 2023.

STRATEGY "FUTURE ASTRONAUT"

Virgin Galactic knew that the price of its flights, sold in advance to prove that there was a healthy market when a product was to be delivered, would require providing customer service while waiting .

"From the beginning, it was obvious to me that if we had clients and we accept large deposits, we will have to communicate with them regularly," said Attenborough.

It was unclear how long the wait for space flight tourism could be, as Branson's turnaround time changed: in 2004, Virgin said it would offer commercial flights starting in 2007. In 2012, the plan was 2013.

The timing of the future astronaut program has evolved as deadlines have pbaded, organizing group tours of the Farnborough Air Show at the Cradle of Humankind fossil site in South Africa.

"It's something they were able to tap and wake up to very early on," said Trevor Beattie, head of advertising and advertising for the Virgin Galactic marketing campaign. "They created, deliberately, a sense of community."

For some, access to Branson itself has improved the experience.

"Is not it funny that the wine tastes better when you know the winemaker?", Said Matthew Upchurch, ticket holder and CEO of Virtuoso, a network of travel agencies with exclusive rights to sell wine. Virgin Galactic flights in North America.

FIDELITY OF CRASH TESTING

The biggest test of this carefully constructed customer community took place in 2014, when an accident in flight test killed the co-pilot and seriously injured him.

"I remember very well that I woke up very early Saturday morning after Friday's crash and was wondering what would happen to this clientele," Attenborough said.

The company contacted customers by email on the day of the accident, both before and after the co-pilot's death. There was a Branson blog post that day, and later a video message. An email from the Astronaut Relations team announced plans to call each client individually.

"It was obviously a terrible day for everyone," said Branson, adding that his experience of a fatal accident in 2007 in which an elderly woman had been killed implied the need to go to the scene of the accident . take these things head-on. "

In the end, Attenborough said that only "a handful" of customers have asked for a refund.

Three weeks after the accident, Reuters, from the Astronaut Relations team, saw in an email that she would soon be sharing her business and travel program. At the London Marathon, he announced "golden dust spots" for a "galactic star team" – part of the sponsorship money would now be donated to a memorial fund for the co-pilot killed.

After consulting with its customers, the company launched one of its Virgin Galactic annual voyages scheduled to Necker Island just weeks after the crash.

After years of huge setbacks and high surrealism, Virgin Galactic ticket holders are getting closer to their flights. For some, space is always the last frontier.

"I drove a Bugatti at a speed of 253 km / h, I skied at the South Pole, swam at the North Pole. I've done a lot of things and what I really want to do is fly in space, "said Jim Clash, an adventure journalist and 610 pbadenger.