I wouldn't mind airship ventures if the system produced some actual useful goods, with a constant enough demand. Apart from the "rare" materials, the more common materials are produced in such abundance that it far exceeds the demand for any of it. The market ends up being oversaturated with loads of materials that no one is buying, because no one needs any of it. Of course that doesn't stop the airship venture system from producing more and more useless market fodder anyways.
If some one told me that that an actual human being was had the actual responsibility of overseeing this game's economy, I would be shocked. There have been so many instances where some new update or addition has completely ruined some portion of the market, I find it hard to imagine anyone is paying attention.