Airbus delivered 19 commercial aircraft in January, its lowest figure for the month in more than a decade. Deliveries in January tend to be lower than in later months of the year. Since the onset of the Covid pandemic, Airbus's January deliveries have fluctuated between 20 and 30 – a range defined by the figures for January 2023 and January 2024, respectively. It had delivered 39 aircraft in January 2019, and 31 in 2020's first month. This year's January deliveries comprised 10 A321neos, five A320neos, three A220s and one A350. Airbus meanwhile booked orders for 49 aircraft, data from the European airframer shows. It discloses no cancellations. Its sole widebody order in the month came from Air Algerie, for an additional A330-900. The North African carrier had in November taken delivery of its first of eight on-order A330-900s. It received the second in December. Fleet data indicates that a seven-year-old A330-900 (MSN 1844) owned by Airbus Financial Services was ferried to Algerian capital Algiers on 14 January and subsequently entered service with the state carrier. MSN 1844 had been in service with Air Belgium, also on lease from Airbus, between 2021 and 2024 Airbus's other January orders comprise eight A321neos for undisclosed customers and 10 new single-aisles (eight A320neos and two A321neos) for IAG. That European airline group transferred five single-aisle orders (three A320neos and two A321neos) to subsidiary British Airways and one A320neo order to Aer Lingus, Airbus data shows. An order from Chinese carrier Spring Airlines for 24 A320neos and six A321neos had been disclosed in December.

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.