A retired U.S. Air Force KC-10 Extender returned to flight Oct. 20 after spending several years in storage at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base in Arizona. The aircraft, formerly designated 86-0034, flew to San Antonio International Airport in Texas under the new ownership of Omega Air Refueling Services. The flight comes just over two years after the Air Force retired its entire KC-10 fleet in September 2024.
The three-engine tanker entered Air Force service in 1981 and served for more than four decades before being replaced by the Boeing KC-46A Pegasus. The aircraft had been stored at Davis-Monthan since 2021 and was among 10 retired KC-10s offered for sale through a government auction in 2025. Photographs taken at San Antonio show the aircraft following its return to flight without its original aerial refueling boom.
Omega already operates civilian tankers that provide contracted aerial refueling services for U.S. and allied military aircraft. The company operates modified Boeing 707 and McDonnell Douglas DC-10 aircraft for those missions. Omega has not announced when the newly acquired KC-10 will enter operational service or what modifications it may receive.
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