Air Combat and Distant Hexes

[LOK]

I thought I knew how distant hexes worked but now I have doubts. I have a large scenario spanning 300 hexes in the x direction. The map is split by distant (in addition to non-playable) hexes at x ~ 210 to simulate a European and Pacific theater and prevent air missions from one theater to another. The distance is set to 199 (max. allowable). The range of most aircraft is less than 80 (scale is 20 km/hex).

However, despite the distant hexes, I can still carry out air missions from one theater to the other and during the air combat resolution I see air units participating that should not be there - they should not have the range.

Any advice would be most welcome.