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I'm skeptical this will happen or if there is really a need but there is a good bit of research going into this... https://www.bbc.com/future/story/20161220-the-aerial-tankers-that-helped-shrink-the-globe https://www.google.com/patents/US20030136874 https://www.range-unlimited.com/ https://theconversation.com/in-flight-refuelling-for-airliners-will-see-non-stop-services-shrink-the-globe-39931 Reading this and thinking about my own time flying the mighty 135, the only way I could see this happening and being profitable/logistically sensible is if you could synchronize the tankers and receivers by a reciprocative schedule/flight plan or rendezvous . If the receiver was scheduled to a destination that allowed for a convenient AR for the tanker which was also flying another revenue producing mission (they have intersecting or parallel flight plans) then maybe but putting a tanker up just to extend the range of 2 or 3 airliners doesn't seem commercially viable with relatively cheap Jet A and transport category aircraft getting more fuel efficient. Just guessing that a commercial tanker would cost about 15K per hour and would have logistical costs at it's MOB of about 2k per mission and WAGing an average 3 hour mission comes to 47k. Round up to 50k for just under 10% in unforeseen costs and that is a considerable bill for airlines to foot. Also, didn't see anything in the articles about what happens when things go wrong (tanker breaks, receiver can't take gas, WX sucks in the track, air traffic congestion interference). Not sure they are considering the entirety of the whole effort to pass gas in the sky. Still, an interesting idea, here's the linked sims flown by the RECREATE project to try this out in the Matrix before taking it live...

Hey Guys, I had a few questions regarding lifestyle after a pilot completes seasoning orders in a fighter unit. I figured having this all in one thread might make for a useful resource for everyone in the future to use. The situation would be that a new fighter pilot just finished seasoning orders, no AGR or full time spots are available, and the pilot has to get another job: How many times per month will your unit require you to fly on average while on part time orders (I am guessing 8-10 days/month)? If you commute to your guard base, will the USAF pay for your airfare to commute to the guard base every time u commute? (assuming you can not use airline perks such as the jump seat worse case scenario) Does your guard unit let you pick and chose which days you want to come in to fly each month? If you are allowed to pick your days, can you commute to your guard base, work for 8 or so days straight, and go home until the following month? If you are commuting to your guard base, where do you stay each night? Does the guard pay you while you are traveling to the base (i doubt it but figured I’d ask) Also, if you chose to have a second job as a airline pilot: If you work a typical airline line schedule (let’s say 15 days/month), can you drop upwards of 7-8 days of military leave and only work 7-8 days at the airline without the airline or your chief pilot becoming upset? If not, how many days of mil leave per month can you drop without upsetting the airline or chief pilot? No pressure to answer all of them. But if you guys know the answer to a few, it can really help us out a lot. I hope others can use this as a future resource as well! Thanks