Airships require ceruleum tanks to be deployed on exploratory voyages. They can be purchased using company credits from the resident caretaker in any of the housing districts.
I think that they made that to avoid FCs of one single player making money with the airship, but small FCs will have a hard time

Players can now hire up to eight retainers.
* Players are normally limited to two retainers per character. To hire additional retainers, please use the optional retainer service
The optional retainer service is the closest thing to P2W in this game... and now they did it bigger