Richard Branson Wants To Build A Plane That Can Go From New York To Tokyo In 'Less Than An Hour'

In an appearance on CNBC's "Squawk Box" on Tuesday, billionaire entrepreneur Sir Richard Branson said he believes in the future he could get a plane from New York to Tokyo in "less than an hour."

Branson has been working on making space travel more accessible to everyone with Virgin Galactic, which he believes would eventually revive supersonic air travel.

"We will be producing supersonic planes which will go far, far faster than Concordes," he said of the British Airways' Concorde aircraft, which was able to go from London to New York in three hours, but was retired in 2003 because it was no longer profitable, The Mirror reports.

When asked what his aircraft could potentially do, Branson said, "If we get it right, New York to Tokyo could be less than an hour. You could be traveling at 19,000 miles an hour orbitally."

(The average flight from New York to Tokyo is more than 13 hours.)

Although he wouldn't give a timeframe to when it could be done - hopefully "within my lifetime," he said - Branson closed by saying that "it's not easy, but it's definitely doable."

Between this and Elon Musk's "Hyperloop," travel in the future sounds pretty crazy.

Here's video: