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I believe that just as a retainer, airships should be given a choice to gather certain materials so you'll get what you need within a matter of days and not having to hope for it for months... Depending on the level of the ship and the ship level, the % of aquiring those items should change.
Unless I'm misunderstanding you, we can already do what you're asking. The "airship only" items drop from specific sectors so if you want something specific just send the airship to the relevant sector(s). True it's not guaranteed as you're not picking the exact option, but then it'd also just make it insanely easy if you just farm whatever item you wanted every single time.