Space tourism set to begin in the UAE next year with space flights costing Dh600,000

Space flights are scheduled to launch in the UAE early next year, with prices beginning at Dh600,000. Around the third quarter of 2025, Kemel Kharbachi, the founder and CEO of the European space company EOS-X Space, plans to start conducting space flights in Abu Dhabi and Spain. The company announced that it would shortly begin critical validation testing with military pilots in cooperation with Spain's esteemed National Institute for Aerospace Technology (Inta), after finishing the development of the Spaceship One manned capsules.

Up to eight passengers, including a pilot, can fit inside the pressurized capsules of EOS-X Space, which are propelled aloft by an environmentally benign helium balloon. Unlike Blue Origin's 11-minute rocket flight, space tourists can witness breath-taking views of space, the blue halo, and Earth's curvature during a five-hour journey in these capsules that reach the stratosphere's edge at an altitude of 40,000 meters.

According to the Spanish organization, travelers don't need to prepare extensively and will receive a customized week-long itinerary that includes health, gastronomic, cultural, and regenerative medicine experiences. Depending on the package selected, the cost per passenger might vary from €150,000 (Dh600,000) to €200,000 (Dh800,000).

The company disclosed the specifics of the trips and stated that other companies depend on rockets for space flights, which charge clients almost a million dollars for a fleeting experience that necessitates intensive training and physical preparation. 

The corporation has stated that Abu Dhabi will be the site of the company's most ambitious complex worldwide, which will include a hotel complex on Yas Island in addition to the shuttle and spaceport. The third facility is scheduled to open in Tulum, Mexico, in 2026.

With a 19% gross profit margin, Kharbachi and his management team projected that the total revenues from Spain and Abu Dhabi might exceed $353 million in the company's first year of operation. The corporation wants to turn over $1.127 billion and make $324 million in gross profit by 2029, which would represent a 23.3% increase in profit over the previous year. 

The engineering and development budget for the Abu Dhabi and Seville complexes is expected to exceed $230 million (Dh844 million). 

The US investment bank FTI Capital Advisor is leading a €115 million Series D financing round that the company is currently involved in.