United Airlines expects to begin operating late in this year's second quarter two Chicago O'Hare gates it is acquiring from Spirit Airlines. The Chicago-based carrier is in the process of assuming control from Spirit – which in late August 2025 filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection – two gates on O'Hare's G concourse and support space in the airport's Terminal 2, United vice-president at O'Hare, Omar Idris, said in a 5 February employee memo shared with Cirium by the carrier. The acquisition of the two gates and support space is subject to approval by the US Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York. Spirit notes in a 3 February motion filed with the bankruptcy court that it is seeking authorisation to assign "certain space associated with G12 and G14, two gates located at Concourse G at O'Hare, to United Airlines" for a one-time $30.2 million assignment fee. The Dania Beach, Florida-based airline intends to use those proceeds to prepay term loans as defined in its debtor-in-possession credit agreement. United at the end of September intends to return one of the gates to the Chicago Department of Aviation for reallocation. "The other will remain with us longer term," Idris says in the memo sent to United's O'Hare employees. "These gates fit squarely into our long-term strategy by giving us the flexibility we need to keep growing responsibly and to continue building an operation that reflects the leadership position United holds in this city." He adds: "We are not looking to gain gates at the expense of competitors." United said on 27 January that by summer it will have increased the number of its daily flights from O'Hare to 750, "200 more than its next-largest competitor and the largest schedule ever flown by any airline operating" at that airport. That disclosure followed American Airlines' 22 January announcement that it will grow its Chicago hub with new routes connecting O'Hare with Allentown, Pennsylvania; Columbia, South Carolina; and Kahului, Hawaii. In February, Chicago market leader United is set to operate 41% of O'Hare capacity, followed by American's 26% portion and Spirit's 2.2% share, Cirium schedules data shows.

Allegiant Air will not expand its fleet size in 2026, the US carrier's chief executive Greg Anderson has forecast. This year, Las Vegas, Nevada-based Allegiant will be awaiting regulatory approval for its proposed acquisition of Sun Country Airlines. Allegiant expects the deal – disclosed in mid-January – to close in the second half of this year. "Looking ahead to 2026, we do not plan to grow the fleet this year as a standalone and we expect to lean into our existing infrastructure and commercial initiatives to drive travel improvement and margin expansion," Anderson said during an earnings call on 4 February. "Importantly, we remain committed to balancing growth with profitability, which we refer to as earning the right to grow." As of 5 February, Allegiant's fleet of 130 aircraft comprises 31 Airbus A319s, 83 A320s and 16 Boeing 737 Max 8s, Cirium fleets data shows. It has 11 Max 8s and 23 yet-to-be-certificated Max 7s on order. The 11 Max 8s are scheduled for delivery in 2026. The leisure carrier's A319s have an average age of 20.4 years. Some A319s could presumably be slated for retirement if new Max 8s arrive in 2026 as scheduled. Anderson notes that Allegiant "is well positioned to take on this significant undertaking" of acquiring Minneapolis-St Paul-based Sun Country, based on its "execution over the past year". Allegiant Air made a fourth-quarter operating profit of $60.1 million, down 23% year on year. Its full-year 2025 profit rose 1.2%, to $144 million. Fourth-quarter revenue was up 7.6%, to $656 million, outpaced by a 12% increase in expenses, which grew to $596 million. Allegiant raised fourth-quarter capacity by 10% year on year. Load factor was up one percentage point, to 81%. "We saw meaningful improvement over the holiday period, and that momentum continued into January," Anderson says. "Current leisure demand is strong, and our customers continue to value convenience and affordability, areas where Allegiant is uniquely positioned." Parent Allegiant Travel Company ended 2025 with $1.1 billion of liquidity, and total debt of $1.1 billion.

Pratt & Whitney believes that it will be able to stabilise engine issues by the end of the decade, with its Airbus A220 and Embraer E2 aircraft-on-ground (AOG) issues resolved by the end of this year. Its aircraft on ground due to the geared turbofan (GTF) recall triggered by powdered metal contamination was down over 20% in the fourth quarter from its peak in 2025, while it sees its A220 and E2 fleet as "completely out of AOG risk", says Rick Deurloo, Pratt & Whitney’s president of commercial engines, on the sidelines of the Singapore Airshow on 4 February. In January 2026, there were 663, representing 33.5% of all A320neo-family aircraft powered by Pratt & Whitney PW1100G engines, listed as stored, compared with 719 aircraft, or 37.6%, at its peak in October 2025, Cirium fleets data shows. The figures also include aircraft that have been parked for reasons unrelated to the powdered metal issues. Meanwhile, Deurloo details that from conversations with operators A220 and E2 AOGs are in the single digits, with "a clear line of sight coming out of AOG risk". "If you think about the impact powdered metal had, this particular fleet already had in its in its maintenance schedule coming in because of LLPs, so we had already planned for it, so it was less impactful from a powdered metal perspective," he explains. Fleet data shows that stored A220 and E2s powered by the GTF engines have steadily decreased from a high of 142, or 24.8% of the total fleet, in March 2025 to 113, or 16.4%, in January. Overall, he believes that engine issues that the industry is facing should ease up: "We feel confident by the end of this decade, we're going to be in more of a normalised state." He clarifies that "normalisation" does not mean zero AOGs but adds instead that these would be "much more manageable" as it continues to deliver capacity to Airbus and Embraer. Prior to that, however, there is still work to be done, with a key aspect to improvements being its ramp up in MRO capacity and its Advantage engines, which he expects to be "shipping in the coming weeks, months" with full production by the first quarter of 2028. "So we are making great progress, lots of work to do. I won't take away that every meeting I'm in with customers, obviously it's [AOGs] first and foremost on their mind, like it is on ours. But we're starting to demonstrate that progress, and they're starting to feel it," he adds.