Did anet plan to add aerial battles?
The upper level of the world is literally just that, the upper level. Central Divinity for example. Not sure about the early game, but I dont think they ever meant to add proper flying physics, despite of course showing Apache attack helicopters attacking The Shatterer, hehehe. Just look at how utterly clunky the Arah story mission is.
Today, adding gliding is probably more of a “look at us, we can compete!” thing. And add a whole new series of gemstore items to sell, of course. Pls copy the sloth from AA Anet.
Best place to see the full layers of Tyria: The Grove. Go there, and you’ll see there are four layers to that map, with the top being the Upper Level. The Upper Level is just the highest most level of the maps, not intended for “aerial battles”.
http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Goemm%27s_Lab
On the other hand maybe high enough level in hang glider mastery will let you use your skills while flying around.