The distance from a base to the carriers home port is irrelevant. As you may be aware the carrier sometimes leaves port and goes elsewhere, so it doesn't matter a jot if Lossie isn't near Pompey if the boat is somewhere in the Indian Ocean.
It seems as though this is turning into a bit of an anti-Scotland thread rather than discussing the original point. Fair play, if you don't want to live there then that's fine, but there are plenty of people who don't want to live in Lincs or E Anglia. Why the bitterness about 3 bases in Scotland staying open? I'm rather more disappointed about the ones that we are losing.
It could be a lot worse....