I admit it does take a a few turns to get used to and it may not be 'right' yet as a mechanic. . .
The thinking behind the rule was to solve two things: 1) over-extended range capabilities of planes, and 2) to shorten the game a little bit by avoiding having players to think about where and land planes after every combat phase.
First 1): We found, especially in Summer, that German planes could support combat on the Russian front, move and land on the mech phase, move and land again on second mech and then move and land again on the non-combat phase. Essentially letting them redeploy to the other side of the map - even after they participated in combat. There was almost no reason for the Germans to keep any planes in France to repulse D-Day for exampe, as the entire Luftwaffe could redeploy and be there at the end of the turn without too many problems. We did not like this and wanted to force instead some commitment of planes in each theater rather than the mass redeployment of planes on the mech and non-combat phases.
Also - it seemed odd to us that planes could say support a regular battle in Southern Russia on the regular phase and then support a mech battle in Northern Russia on the mech phase. It seemed like too much redeployment of planes and once committed to support a theater - that is where they should be committed.
Finally, it seemed to us that mech battles were really only an extension of the combat during the regular phase - the breakthrough and exploitation from the regular battles. So, planes should still be committed to supporting the ongoing combat they were assigned to at the beginning of the turn.
Secondly 2) We were looking to shave 5-10 mins off of the time it took to play a game turn. People were spending a lot of time thinking about where they were going to land their planes after combat so they could be used most effectively in the mech phase. It did not 'feel' right given the points above and we felt like we could save some playing time by not allowing planes to "land" until all combat was over.
That being said, we are flexible in trying to address rules problems and happy to apply something better. I just don't like to mega redeployment after combat that the multiple moves and landing would provide a player now. What are some of the mechanic issues you and your group are having with the way we tried to restructure the air movement system?
