A two-wavelength polarization airborne lidar is designed for detecting three-dimensional distributions of aerosols and clouds and its interaction on both regional and global dimension. The design and operation of the lidar system are discussed. Simulation results of the lidar specifications are presented. Some key techniques adopted in developing the airborne lidar are depicted. The ground experimental result suggests that the lidar system can achieve the detection performance as wanted. Initial result from airborne measurement shows that the airborne lidar meets the aviation applications on weight, size, power and operating environment restrictions. In the future, integrated atmospheric observations using lidar along with other passive remote sensing instrument aboard on the aircraft, will improve our understanding of atmospheric composition and environment element.