There is some aircraft management: you have a hangar on each continent which you can put 1-2 fighters in. (You start with 2 interceptors with Avalanche missiles, and can buy more of them and improve their weapons)
It lacks the multiple skyrangers and using interceptors to scout areas for bases and such.
It definitely is streamlined though, which generally means simplification. A lot of the design decisions work well, even if I would have preferred it to be much more like the original (but that's why I've got the original and pre-ordered Xenonauts!).
It handles global panic pretty well, and the choices you have to make all have specific rewards attached. There have been cases when I've played where I had to choose to aid a panicked nation (or lose them from the council), rather than getting the better reward from another nation.
The tactical battles are quite good in a very different way, and Tom Chick nailed it in his review: they're very much like a board-game. The restrictions annoy me, but I can see why they are there (from a gameplay perspective, again it's all about the game forcing you to make choices).
Tom Chick review:
http://www.quartertothree.com/fp/201...ears-to-write/