The air does not only come from reverb, but actually the chorus/flanger effect with the right combination of tremolo (do it with lfo on synth) and detuning (with oscillator tuners not the detune pedal). It's just a matter of using your ears and understanding what you are actually listening to
yes yes yes yes!!!! keep working on that air pad though man! they are tricky as heck because of the feedback from the reverb! But the trick is to get as much as the modulations and airiness from the actual synth as you can before applying effects. The bulk of the synth's fullness should come from the dry signal, which can be thoroughly enhanced and pumped up with the wonderous power of the multi-channeled rasslebock