The AA HT's range is the entire map, there is no using special positioning of planes to avoid AA.
A unit that comes in at under 10 minutes shouldn't make 3/5 abilities of the commander literally unable to be used.
Well, dealing with AA when you choose a mostly air-oriented commander is expected, and it's on you only to make that choice. CAS is great, but you can't possibly hope that players will do something different than getting AA.