By my eye, this kit looks like it has slightly fewer parts than Ilfrith (look here if you want to compare for yourself), despite the two mobile suits being so similar:
But I don’t really think this tells us anything about Aerial’s complexity (or lack thereof) in comparison. Ilfrith has a much bigger backpack, and despite being less visually complex, its shield is made out of more parts. These two things seem to account for most Ilfrith’s extra plastic.
Now let’s dive right into the build …