In regards to the durability of airship parts, I allowed our airship to completely degrade and was given the following error when I tried to deploy it 'broken'.

"Unable to commence voyage. One or more components require repairs."

It appears that if the condition of any one component fails, the entire ship cannot be deployed. I would further speculate that the condition of any one component has no effect on the quantity or quality of the items returned similar to the condition of our armor and weapons.

-Avotas