The technology to fly an aircraft from the ground (including setting landing configuration) is already there. And unlike cruise missiles these aircraft return to land safely.
Look at the Global Hawk for example. It has flown the Atlantic and Pacific unmanned.
Global Hawk
However, in the civilian aviation world, there would be a lot of issues to address before such capability could be introduced. Operator training (would it be ATC ? or ground based ''emergency'' pilots ??), public acceptance, safety assurance, comms links .... the list is endless.
The means are there ... the will and finance are perhaps not yet.
How long will take an F16 to intercept that plane and make a visual inspection? Less than 20 minutes ?
Assuming you are 10 minutes from a fighter base. Large parts of the world are not.