Billionaire Sir Richard Branson sees a not-so-distant future when transcontinental air travel may be measured in minutes, not hours.



"If we get it right, New York to Tokyo could be less than an hour," the Virgin Group founder told CNBC's "Squawk Box" on Tuesday. "You could be traveling at 19,000 miles per hour orbitally."

Branson said he's hoping to bring back supersonic commercial air travel after getting his Virgin Galactic space venture off the ground. "After we've done the space program, we will be producing supersonic planes, which will go far, far, faster than [the] Concorde."

It's been more than a decade since the last commercial flight of the Concorde, which was able to make it from London to New York in three hours. It was retired by British Airways after 27 years in service.

Branson, 63, told CNBC he'd like to bring his brand of futuristic flights to fruition in his lifetime.