Virgin Galactic reaffirms plans to begin commercial service this year

Virgin Galactic remains on track, technically and financially, to start commercial flights of its next-generation suborbital spaceplane by year's end.

In a first-quarter earnings call, company executives said work on its first SpaceShip vehicle is on schedule, with the completed airframe recently moving from its assembly hangar to a testing hangar at its production facility near Phoenix.

Virgin Galactic said May 14 it remains on track, technically and financially, to start commercial flights of its next-generation suborbital spaceplane before the end of the year.