I've seen an analysis which said that the revenue source isn't going to space and back, but going really fast between 2 points on earth. The analysis basically said that with mail delivery you pay up to 5 times as much for the fastest delivery tier as you do fo the second fastest and that there are about 10% as many deliveries at the fastest tier as at the second fastest. So if you could use space ship 2 for an even faster tier and could get 10% of the current fastest market for 5x the price, then there should be enough mail to pay for up to 1 flight per day across the country.
Don't we already have same-day delivery? So the next tier would have to be quicker delivery than that, which would necessitate more than one flight a day. Is it still economically viable in that case?
Does this same economy math apply to passenger transport? Or could one flight per day of mail to the other side of the world be worth it?
There's something there in your point. But I think the kind of launch and landing infrastructure requires these kinds of things be pretty far from important population centers...meaning your short rocketship trip would be bookended by interminable ground transport.
