I was Miraj and IZMAN from AW1,2,and3 , and flew for the Screaming Eagles.
We were an Az only squad.
Anyway , there are more and better flight modeled planes here, more variety of everything.
More planes ,with alot of the a,b,c,d,e,f,g,etc models represented. Most , with weapons to match.
The maps are bigger , usually.
A more complex gameplay with Perk Points for high end planes and ENY to help even things out. There are also more and better pilots head views.
In AW most everything was RelaxedRealism, here it all FullRealism. I think this is the biggest difference.
Really good computer pilots stand out in full realism.
I remember watching an old episode of StarTrek DeepSpace 9 , where Dr.Bashir and Chief O'brien just got out of the holodeck and "prevented the Gerys from crossing the channel".
These graphics may not be hologram quality , but they are darn good , and the experience is alot of fun!