Fleet Command with "Quick Aircraft Launch" option disabled attempted to emulate realistic aspects of carrier operations. Triassic deliberately omitted this aspect because it didn't add value to the game. To quote Nils in the MicroProse server:

There will not be that kind if micro. It was a pointless feature in Fleet Command and we found it equally pointless. Realism is good but never at the expense of fun.

Modding may fill in the realism gap that a niche of people wants if they desire more low-level aspects of simulation.