Virgin Galactic, Richard Branson‘s company that hopes to be taking tourists into space within a couple of years, has shown the inside of its spacecraft to the media for the first time.

A BBC journalist was this week given an exclusive look inside the vessel, which is designed to propel six tourists and two pilots through the atmosphere and over 100 kilometers above the Earth.

While the inside looks rather cramped, the first “space tourists” will be able to get a good view thanks to the large porthole-shaped windows on each side, and entry is through a narrow hatch on the bottom side of the vessel.

A new cabin concept called Phoenix, featuring a colour-scheme and layout designed to appeal to Asian tastes, is being offered to Airbus Corporate Jet customers.

The main cabin features seating for six people around a large circular-table – the focus of family life in many Asian cultures – which facilitates work-related discussions and dining.

Airbus Corporate Jets are able to offer this feature because they have the widest and tallest cabin of any business jet, existing or planned.

The growing list of billionaires in India is an enticing prospect for executive jet makers seeking to recover from a slump in demand caused by the financial crisis.

Prominent among exhibitors at the ongoing Aero India 2011 air show in Bangalore were manufacturers such as US-based Gulfstream and Brazil’s Embraer – both hoping to seduce corporate high-flyers with their luxury private planes.

The global private jet market had a hard landing in 2008-09, with jet prices plunging by up to 30 percent and actual flying time falling by an estimated 40 percent.

Honda Aircraft has successfully completed the first flight of its FAA-conforming HondaJet advanced light business jet.

The HondaJet took off from the Piedmont Triad International Airport in Greensboro, North Caroline on 20 December and flew for 51 minutes.

While Honda enters the flight test program with the HondaJet, its aircraft production facility on its Greensboro campus is also nearing its completion.

Korean Air is to introduce a new two-story A380 aircraft that features only Business Class seats on the second floor in May.

The 407-seat aircraft, built in partnership with Airbus, will be composed of 12 First Class, 94 Business Class and 301 Economy Class seats.

Korean Air says this deck will have 94 lie-flat sleeper seats, with 74in pitch. This will give business passengers a sense of “exclusivity”

After years of waiting for China to lift heavy restrictions on airspace, wealthy travellers and aircraft manufacturers have reason to celebrate — the country’s skies are opening up to private flights.

The makers of helicopters and small business jets are predicting a major bump in sales — France’s Dassault Falcon just moved its Asia office from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing, which it called the new “centre of gravity” for the market.

The private air travel industry “will be one of the fastest-growing sectors in the next 10 years”, Frank Lee, chairman of China Private Aviation Company, a consultancy offering aircraft acquisition and charter services, told AFP.