Canada's Porter Airlines is adding year-round flights to Austin from 21 May and shifting its Chicago services to O'Hare International airport in September. Five-times weekly flights on Embraer 195-E2s between Toronto Pearson and Austin-Bergstrom International airport begin 21 May. Cirium Diio schedules data shows that will put it in competition with Air Canada's daily services on the route. From 1 September, Porter will shift its Toronto City-Chicago Midway services to O'Hare and increase frequency from 13 times weekly to thrice daily using De Havilland Canada Dash 8-400s. That will see it compete with Air Canada's twice-daily services on the route. American Airlines operates a major hub at O'Hare, and last September it entered into a codeshare arrangement with Porter. In Canada, Porter will start a new seasonal service between Ottawa and Deer Lake using E195-E2s from 10 June, which it says complements existing flights from Pearson and Halifax.

Air India will over the coming months add frequencies to several long-haul destinations and upgauge from Boeing 787s to 777-300ERs on some routes. From 1 March, its Delhi-Toronto frequencies will be stepped up from daily to 10 per week, while from 9 March it will increase its services linking the Indian capital with Seoul Incheon, from five to six per week, and Shanghai, from four to five per week. Further changes will follow on 1 July when Air India will deploy its 777-300ERs on its Delhi-Melbourne route, while 787-9s and -8s with upgraded interiors will be used to operate all its Mumbai-London Heathrow services in place of the 777s. Air India will also deploy the 777s on services to the UK city of Birmingham from Amritsar and Delhi, and to London Gatwick from Ahmedabad and Amritsar in place of 787-8s from 1 August. In addition, Air India on 14 February started deploying its three-class 787-9s on its Delhi-Tokyo Haneda route, adding 2,408 seats per month to the route. The airline expects to take delivery of three new 787-9s and two Airbus A350-1000s this year. Cirium fleets data shows that the carrier has 20 777-300ERs, 24 787-8s and seven -9s in service, as well as five A350-900s.

Air New Zealand has finished its four-month programme of trial flights using an electric-powered BETA Technologies Alia CX300 light aircraft. The carrier says that during its time in New Zealand the CX300 completed over 100 flights carrying 20t of mock cargo and visited 12 airports across the country, including across the Cook Strait. "Flying the aircraft in real conditions, across real routes, with our people and partners involved has given us a much deeper understanding of what next-generation aircraft could mean for New Zealand aviation in the future," states the airline's general manager of network and fleet strategy, Baden Smith. As an example of the potential savings that the battery-powered aircraft could deliver, the carrier says that on a Wellington-Blenheim sector the CX300 used around NZ$20 ($12) worth of electricity, compared with the NZ$110 in fuel a Cessna Caravan would consume. The carrier is handing the aircraft back to the manufacturer but notes that "the knowledge gained will continue to shape discussions with regulators, manufacturers and partners as aviation technology evolves". Air New Zealand has shown strong interest in advanced air mobility solutions but has stepped back from its ambition to replace its De Havilland Canada Dash 8-300 fleet with electric- or hydrogen-powered aircraft, citing the slow pace of advances in the technology.