EXCLUSIVE: Fly Abu Dhabi to LA in 2 hours - Aabar

Aabar Investments boss Khadem Abdullah Al Qubaisi has unveiled plans to fly from Abu Dhabi to LA in two hours, as part of a venture with Virgin Galactic.

Earlier this year, Aabar – which is controlled by the Abu Dhabi government – announced it would take a 32 percent stake in Sir Richard Branson’s commercial space project for $280m.

Speaking to Arabian Business, Aabar chairman Al Qubaisi said: “The point here is to use Abu Dhabi and LA as a hub, or somewhere in the US, and to fly from Abu Dhabi and land in the other place in two or three hours.”

Virgin Galactic is set to launch commercial flights into space in 2011, charging each passenger $200,000.

Speaking about reports that the Committee on Foreign Investments in the United States (CFIUS) had launched a national security investigation into the deal between Aabar and Virgin Galactic which could eventually block it, Al Qubaisi said he was unconcerned.

“I think everything is smooth and there is no problem at all… what happened is a starightforward issue, I think. They (the US government) need to make sure the country which will be a hub for this kind of service will follow the rules and laws that apply. What I mean by this is they will not use this for some terrorist attacks,” he said.

He added that Abu Dhabi’s relationship with the United States was “very good,” and that he did not expect the approval process to take longer than a “few weeks".

Aabar Investments is 71 percent owned by Abu Dhabi's International Petroleum Investment Company.