BC2 made them too much of a gamechanger. A good pilot could win the game for a team. So many people complained that a good chopper pilot in BF3 could do the same thing (and i agree having spent stupid house flying in both jets and helicopters with a joystick setup). The game is designed around teamwork. Having snipers tag choppers to help bring them down, but then you have ground troops that can counter that. The Vehicles are not meant to define the game, and who wins. They are there to create atmosphere and support for ground troops. Even tanks are easy to destroy if a ground team knows what it is doing. I have seen choppers last all game with 1 pilot who knows what he is doing. Again what they are designed for is troop mobility. The apache is there for support for the troops/other chopper and as a tankbuster. Not a Spawn camper that can hold a single point on it's own. And the Jets are designed to bring the choppers down (pretty much all they can do apart from shoot eachother). A good pilot can take out an AA gun. Ground troops? Hardly.
At the end of the day the teams ability as ground troops will be the deciding factor. Not the vehicles. And that is how DICE want the game to be played.