What is airborne for?

Answer 1

Assuming the military is what you are wanting, between the first & second world war various means of transporting & delivering troops by air were attempted. During WW2 there were a number of examples of airborne delivery of troops to the battlefield by the Germans, the British , US & the Russians. Notably Crete; D Day & Arnhem.

Answer 2

Airborne, in the medical sense, means capable of being passed through the air and moved about on air currents over distances, where another person can breathe in the virus, germ, or other biological agent. When someone sneezes or coughs, germs may be on respiratory droplets released into the air for only short periods of time and perhaps a distance of only six feet, before they fall to the surrounding surfaces, so that example it is not technically "airborne" when that happens.