Will Whitehorn, who led Virgin’s space operation from 2004 to 2010 and sits on the UK’s government’s space advisory panel, told WTM London this week he believed there would be strong demand for “rapid, round-planet” travel using hypersonic aircraft, operating “within four or five years”.

Hermeus, an Atlanta-based start-up is reportedly testing a new type of hypersonic engine that will eventually be capable of reaching Mach 5 (more than 3,000 mph) compared to the supersonic speeds of Mach 2 achieved by Concorde.

According to Whitehorn, hypersonic travel would be among a raft of “semi-space” tourism experiences, such as anti-gravity flights to the earth’s atmosphere that will be cheaper and more accessible than the commercial space travel race currently being fought by Richard Branson’s Virgin Galactic, Jeff Bezos’s Blue Origin and Elon Musk’s SpaceX.

Whitehorn said they would look to lower their prices as the market matured and the technology used to operate space flights became more readily available.

“I don’t think those costs will come down for quite a while yet though,” he predicted. “Although, with something like hypersonic flights, it travels at twice the height of Concorde but for half the price of an actual space flight.”

Asked how large a market he believed there would be for hypersonic flights, Whitehorn predicted sizeable interest.

“Imagine if you were able to get to New York in 30 minutes, or Australia in a few hours, and the cost would be more comparable to Concorde – there is going to be considerable demand.”

Whitehorn said tourism was “always at the heart” of technology advances in transportation, referencing how in the early 1800s train operators chose the more profitable option of carrying passengers on day trips than transporting coal.

Discussing the likelihood of future hotels in space, Whitehorn said he believed guests would participate in scientific research during their stays “like Hurtigruten’s ships in Norway and Antarctic expeditions” but would not need to be so highly trained and qualified as visitors to the International Space Station are currently.

“Someone will come along with a niche – whether that’s an existing hotel brand, or another player. I would imagine Virgin would want to get involved,” he said.