Commercial Airliner In-Flight Refuelling

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Read this story in the Times and is actively being worked on through funding by the EU.
Surely a winner all round if viable unless they can make the hypersonic thing work.

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This is the feature I read in the paper.
http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/business/industries/...

I was assuming that airlines wouldn't have to pay landing fees, buy kerosene at the cheapest price for their tankers etc which would make
it cheaper to fly long haul. Probably more cons than pros looking at the big picture.

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jamiebae said:

There are flights which are possible now, but are not run for commercial reasons due to the cost of carrying the fuel required to get to the destination. I don't remember the route but there are various routes which used to be run by A340s where they needed to be ofer 100% full to break even.

If you can halve the fuel at take off and refuel half way the cost saving will be huge on an ultra long haul route. All you have to do is get the fuel up there, pump it over and get down again, which is very different to having to carry it for 8 hours as dead weight.

I'm not surprised it could be viable, but the safety bit needs thought I'm sure...

You might be refering to the Singapore Airlines flights direct to either Newark or San Fran which were the longest scheduled flights before being cancelled a couple of years ago - something like 18 hours depending on headwinds. Used the A340s which were slow and thirsty. Only viable as most seats were configured to business class. Ended up not viable as demand was not there.