Virgin Galactic shares rising as sales of commercial space flights resumed

Shares of Virgin Galactic Holdings Inc, founded by Richard Branson for space tourism, jumped nearly 9% in early trading on Tuesday after the company announced the resumption of ticket sales for spaceflight expeditions following a two-year hiatus, with a limited number of seats priced at $750,000.

Virgin Galactic shares rose nearly 9% in the first minutes of early trading on Tuesday, to $2.40 per share, before paring gains slightly.

Virgin Galactic has nearly completed assembly of its SpaceShip and will begin ground testing in April, and has therefore released a limited number of tickets for spaceflight expeditions, each priced at $750,000, CEO Michael Colglazier said. “We completed pivotal milestones during the first quarter of 2026, and with assembly of our first SpaceShip nearly complete and ground testing set to begin in April, we have released a limited number of Virgin Galactic Spaceflight Expeditions, each priced at $750,000.” That is about $100,000 higher than previously, Bloomberg reported.

Virgin Galactic announced the ticket sales alongside quarterly results that fell short of Wall Street expectations. Revenue declined 25% year over year in the fourth quarter to $312,000, versus $360,000 expected by analysts, according to Bloomberg data. The loss per share for the period narrowed to $0.98 per share, about two fifths of the previous level and versus Wall Street estimates of a $0.82 per share loss.

The company expects its second SpaceShip to enter service between late in the fourth quarter of 2026 and early in the first quarter of 2027, which would allow it to ramp up spaceflights and cash flow from commercial operations. For 2025, free cash flow was negative at minus $438 million. Free cash flow for the first quarter of 2026 is guided to be in a range of minus $90-95 million, after which the metric is expected to improve.

After Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin announced in January that it would pause tourist flights, Virgin Galactic has been left as the only major company focused on short trips to space for sightseeing, Bloomberg reported.

Virgin Galactic was founded in 2004 by billionaire Richard Branson to develop space tourism. It initially aimed to begin commercial flights in 2009, but the timeline was repeatedly delayed, including after a fatal test flight accident.

The company later announced a revised mission, but final testing was delayed due to the Covid-19 pandemic. As a result, its first suborbital flight took place only in 2021, with Branson himself among the six passengers on board.

In June 2024, Virgin Galactic paused commercial operations to focus on developing an upgraded spacecraft. The latest announcement signals that the company is moving toward resuming tourism operations, Bloomberg noted.

Virgin Galactic shares are down more than 32% year to date. Wall Street remains cautious on the outlook: the stock has four “hold” ratings from analysts versus just one “buy.” Still, the average target price is $4 per share, implying upside of more than 84% versus the Monday close.