I think the biggest Improvement of the Airship would need the discovery/rediscovery of a theoretically possible but not yet seen Surge Fabrial:
Gravitation Fabrial
We do not know how exactly they work, but they would utilize the Surge of Gravitation, if we look at other Surge Fabrials, we can assume they would be used similarly to the Radiant use of Surges. So theoretically they could be used to lashe an Object in any direction.