Yoplate

I might have heard this idea somewhere else, but I think a good fix would be the option to recover lost aircraft for something like 1/2 cost and 5 days (these are just numbers of the top of my head). This would make it so you can still lose your aircraft, but you dont have to start entirely over from scratch after you mess up and lose a Corsair or something.

Air combat is difficult due to the slow improvements in Xenonaut Aircraft. Initially it is very easy (as it should be) to down scouts and light scouts. Even Corvettes are relatively easy to deal with once you get Foxtrots. The problem is the number of Landing ships and fighters that appear. Corvettes and scouts are entirely gone and the enemy aircraft are entirely Landing ships, or fighters (that explode on death). This makes downing enemy aircraft extremely challenging and the number of enemies means I must ignore a significant portion. If they kept several scouts and corvettes flying around during this time before Corsairs start coming out, it would make it easier to keep up relations and income. Ground combat is relatively fine, at least during the day. Night missions are pretty difficult, and I outright ignore night terror missions. Starting soldiers seem way too weak, both in accuracy and TU's, and your troops have the annoying tendency to throw grenades directly into their own cover. Other than that, the ground combat seems relatively fine.