Dildicus
Ok, "show-my-ignorance time:" How do you transfer the planes? I toyed with "attacking" one of my bases with a jet from one of my other ones to transfer, but was afraid it might actually work...
You've got it! If you hover over the plane icon on one of your own airbases, you'll notice that it's labeled "air transfer." It works like an attack, except your jets move to the base instead.
Also, just to clarify, an attack set on one of your own sectors would never actually be processed. For example, if you set a land attack on an area and then an air attack, then air attack won't go through if the land attack takes the sector.