The future of travel is rapidly developing, as flight times between opposite sides of the world may be as little as three hours.

The Invictus aircraft is about to undergo testing in the UK and is capable of traveling at five times the speed of sound.

Planes would take off as usual, horizontally, but then head to the edge of the atmosphere, from where they can speedily head to long-haul destinations.

Initially, the aircraft will not take passengers, but it could pave the way for hypersonic commercial flights to become a normality in the travel industry.

Gordon Stevenson, a director of Spaceport Machrihanish, who are in the running to launch the first flights, said: “You could be in Sydney, Australia in three hours. It depends on the speed at which it flies and the success of the technology, but it would be amazing wouldn’t it?”

An aviation specialist told Nine news that although these flights are “technically plausible” there is no expectation they would be available to commercial customers any time soon.

Dr Tony Stanton, Consultant Director at Strategic Air, said: “There is a very large difference between demonstrating a hypersonic test aircraft and operating a safe, reliable, commercially viable passenger service between London and Sydney."

He added that it is currently a long-term ambition for the aviation industry and the issue would be with the operating environment.

Stanton said: “The aircraft has to deal with extreme heating, very high structural and propulsion loads, complex fuel and thermal management issues, and demanding flight safety requirements.”

Before it would be deemed safe for passengers there would need to be a hefty number of checks carried out.

Costs are likely to be extortionate and the number of passengers on-board would be very limited.

These restrictions mean it is unlikely that the planes will operate as normal commercial flights, however could run as business jets or for government and high-end premium travel.

Estimated to take up to 22 hours, the “game-changing new route” will be the longest commercial flight in the world and tickets are expected to go on sale from February next year.