Air staging is pretty useful as is, and is underused because people simply don't realize it. It can heal t2 and t3 air for a tiny fraction of their cost. Its also incredibly useful for t1 air, since they run out of fuel so quickly. There were a few games casted by TA on crossfire where good players completely lost air control simply because their planes had no fuel.
Also, carriers are FAR better at maintaining a fleet of aircraft than the pads. A single idle carrier can keep your entire ASF swarm healed and fueled.
The new vet system is also an indirect buff to air staging, because an ASF gets vet from killing another ASF. Therefore, keeping your aircraft at full health to deny enemy fighters easy vet is even more important.