If you have a CD/DVD burner designed for a computer that has a USB interface, you can probably use it with your MacBook Air. There are various ways of going from USB-C (USB) to USB-A (USB), including the Apple USB-C to USB adapter, or hubs and docks that provide USB-A ports.
If your CD/DVD burner is so old that it only has a FireWire interface or a SCSI interface, then yes, there's no good way to connect it to a 2024 MacBook Air, and it's time to get a new burner that connects via USB. Again, USB-A versus USB-C doesn't matter so much because it's easy to go from one to the other.