History of airships
For most of their history, airships have been a symbol of wealth and prestige due to their high fuel costs. As an example, a trip from Mexico City to Fryslân to Air Temple Valley was estimated to cost 10.5 stacks of coal, or 672 coal. This extremely high cost to fly even short distances made airships mainly used either as a demonstration of power or for the few scenarios where overland long-distance travel of large quantities of goods (~3+ chests worth) was necessary.
The first airship to be built was the Defiance, on Spawn Island by Vidcom. This would join the fledgling Air Nation Air Force and be accompanied by the flagship, HWAS Surging Gale. Surging Gale was, at completion, the largest ship in the world and also prompted an alliance between the Air Nation and Cassland, as wool from Port Cass was exchanged by the Grand Oak in exchange for the Treaty of Port Cass which guaranteed Air Nation protection.
Surging Gale would be the vessel of Grandmaster Murpple's grand international diplomatic tour, which saw him travel to the Free Territory, Cassland, see Polaris from above, Mexico City, and the Floating City, before returning to Air Temple Valley. This was the first and longest major trip by air and not one to be repeated - the voyage consumed at least 12 stacks of coal, greatly depleting Air Nation fuel reserves and forcing Murpple to ask for fuel as he arrived at other locations.
Due to the high costs for fuel in airships and airskiffs alike, internal server votes concluded that the fuel requirement for airships should be abolished. This, alongside the increasing of airskiff efficiency by 10x, is known as the Fuel Revolution.
Air traffic promptly exploded, with the new Air Nation airship HWAS Inkwood and the first non-AN Airships, Arboria and REY Badgermole, entering the skies. Airships were now able to travel much longer distances for faster and cheaper, meaning anyone with overland crossings to handle had an incentive to either build one or build facilities for them.
Shortly after this, the Kami Breakthrough occurred in which mobs and drops were transportable by airship for the first time. Only Airships, BigAirships, and Ships are capable of transporting these. This has enabled the transfer of NPC villagers from vast distances away to repopulate towns that were left depopulated in the wake of the Zombie Crisis, which saw many villages eradicated by zombie raids. This practise has been embraced by the Air Nation, who has successfully repopulated 2 villages in the vicinity of Air Temple Valley, and the Fire Nation who seek to use Air Nation airships to repopulate their own villages. Other states, such as Earth Kingdom and Free Territory, have condemned this practise as slavery, making it illegal to transport villagers by any means through their territory or trade in them. A less controversial example of the Kami Breakthrough on airships might be the use of REY Badgermole to transport the King's personal horse by air.