Realistic airsoft guns are a major boon on the industry. The most obvious advantage is for low or no-budget productions, where it's cheaper to just mime fire a gun or a gas blowback pistol than go through the process of purchasing a blank gun or converting a real gun, buying blank ammo, and (if you're smart) hiring an armorer. It also helps amateurs get started in film, as they're able to make good action shorts with realistic weapons.
For major feature films, there's other advantages. You've got everything I said before about how they're cheap and require no ammunition or armorer on set. They're also safe to use for close shots where blanks could injure or kill an actor, and they let you film in areas where you can't or didn't get a permit for the noise of blank firing.
You just need to be careful when filming with them. A lot of movies, even such high profile ones as The Hurt Locker, accidentally show airsoft logos that they forgot to paint over or only partially covered. Don't be sloppy with your work. Don't be slow, but also don't be sloppy. The devil's in the details.
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