In my opinion the tool set is pretty robust and the air sdk team seems to be invested in fixing bugs and adding worthwhile features. Now... if I had zero programming experience would I start with air/as3? Probably not. But I definitely think all those Flash devs who left the platform years ago should give the current Air/Sdk/Starling a once over before digging in deep with other options.
I've seen your posts on at least 2 different sites asking about Air/AS3. Have you actually started programming in AS3 yet?