Somewhere above the Mojave Desert in California, an extraordinary double-hulled aircraft with a 140ft wingspan is being tested.

Some time in the near future the aircraft will ferry spaceships to the outer fringes of Earth’s atmosphere for launching into space. Aboard the spaceships will be the first of a new generation of tourists, each of whom will have paid about $200,000 (£121,000) for a trip into space. And, if the tourists are British, the place where they join their flight is likely to be RAF Lossiemouth.

That, at any rate, is the vision of Will Whitehorn, president of Virgin Galactic, which is preparing to send commercial travellers into space.

There are, of course, a few hurdles to cross before then. As Mr Whitehorn told The Times, there is legislation to be framed, approval to be sought and a state-of-the-art aircraft to be completed.

Lossiemouth, in the northeast of Scotland, has been earmarked as a take-off point because it is one of the few sites with a runway long enough for the mothership. The area has relatively few overflying aircraft and is thinly populated.

Mr Whitehorn is hopeful that progress will be made “in the next 12 months”.

The scheme is much further ahead in the US, where the spaceship and the mothership which will launch it, are being built and tested. They are to be launched from a spaceport in New Mexico.

US legislation had to be altered to allow for commercial flights, with the Commercial Space Launch Amendment Act 2004 and the creation of a new body to administer the regulation. Mr Whitehorn said that similar changes would have to be made in Britain.

It is also up to the US to decide whether the technology can be exported to Britain, as it is subject to Information Technology Amendment Act regulations.

“Subject to US approval, we could bring this to Britain. But the Government needs to produce a legislative backdrop to this,” Mr Whitehorn, who was born in Edinburgh, said.

“I have been to see Lord Drayson [the Science Minister] and the [Government] is working on that. If we did come to Britain, the northeast of Scotland would be a good place. RAF Lossiemouth would be suitable.”

He said that the British National Space Centre was being very positive. “They regulate the space industry at the moment. We need to know what the liabilities are. We need to know who will regulate us. I am suggesting we look at the US way. Britain is taking it seriously and it’s thanks to Lord Drayson.

“I think we would like to see legislation in the next 12 months or, if we don’t need that, whatever is needed. There is confusion over what the UK needs to do. The Outer Space Act isn’t fit for purpose.”

Virgin Galactic was set up in 2004 and offers commercial travellers the chance to fly into space after only three days of training. However, the aims of the project were more diverse than recreation.

Mr Whitehorn said that scientists would be able to take up their own experiments and examine the effect of space on genetic compositions. “It’s a science vehicle which can carry humans with the science,” he said. “Universities and big corporate enterprises are interested.”

The spaceship is being constructed in secret in the Mojave Desert. “Even Richard hasn’t seen it yet,” Mr Whitehorn said. “We’ll see it on December 7. It’s going to be a big deal in America. It’s the world’s first human-carrying space ship which is completely reusable.”

The spaceship will be launched from a mothership, called White Knight Two, at 53,000ft — about the height at which Concord used to fly.

White Knight Two was the “world’s largest ever carbon composite aviation vehicle”, Mr Whitehorn said. “It’s the stuff they make surf boards out of. It’s a surfboard to space. If it works, it will change the face of aviation. We will use 60 per cent less fuel if we make an aircraft from it. The whole industry is watching this vehicle. It’s been flying for a year with no problems.”

Test flights in the US are due to begin in 14 months, and commercial flights after that, although Virgin Galactic refuses to put a time on this.

Mr Whitehorn, who is a member of the GlobalScot network, was speaking at Napier University in Edinburgh this week as part of the Confident Futures Values and Ethics Lecture Series, which is intended to inspire students by exposing them to successful individuals from the corporate and professional world. He is a public relations expert who has worked at Virgin since 1987 and is regularly described as Sir Richard’s right-hand man. He was made president of Virgin Galactic at its inception.

“In 15 years, this will be the biggest business Virgin has created,” he said. “I’m absolutely convinced — and I’m not usually wrong about these things.”

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