[Detrytus]

Airplane cost to operate is fuel consumption, and, by the laws of physic, aerodynamic resistance scales as a square of speed, so you can’t really work around it unless you invent some new laws of physics.

[maattdd]

Your conclusion is really a false dichotomy. The square of something very very small (close to zero) is negligeable : thus subortibal hop (Concorde was flying at 18km altitute for example).

[laughing_man]

That's why these schemes typically envision a suborbital hop, with no air resistance for most of the trip.

[LargoLasskhyfv]

...at an altitude of 25 kilometers, where atmospheric pressure is one-hundredth that at sea level.