That jump ramp is very characteristic, that's why I thought it might be a Kuznetsov relative.

I wonder if it also has the cruise missile battery built into the deck.

To add on, most of us are probably used to seeing American Nimitz- and *Ford-*class carriers, which have flight decks covering approx. 4.5 and 5 acres respectively, while the Liaoning only has about 3.5 acres, and loses a lot of that real estate to the ski jump. American carriers tend to be built with extra parking spaces for aircraft on the deck, partially to get more bang for our buck, but also because you can park planes on a CATOBAR deck without much difficulty.

In addition, Nimitz- and *Ford-*class carriers each carry approx. 90 aircraft of various types, compared to the Liaoning's 45 or so.

The bottom line is American carriers tend to keep aircraft on deck while sailing around, because they carry so many of them and have more space on the deck for parking, while the Liaoning likely has enough hangar bay space for her much smaller complement of aircraft.

Not all.

Carriers tend to have internal hangar spaces, repair/loadout spaces, machining capability, assisted takeoff/landing systems on the flight deck, etc.

To "carry" the aircraft and expect them to perform their roles, the carrier has to be a mobile light airfield and not just a deck to land and take off from.

Edit: Not to say they can't sail or don't with any of them on the flight deck of course, but that's maintaining a certain level of readiness that has some posturing inherent. I guess that's true for all military readiness doctrines.