The Air got the M1 chip while that was still the current chip in the iPad Pro (Air 5 launched in March 2022 while the Pro didn”t get M2 until October 2022.)
It isn’t confirmed that there’ll be no Air this year, Apple don’t tell us when the next models are coming and people get caught out every year having bought products shortly before a new model launches. Rumours say it’ll be next year but Apple can always take us by surprise and the base iPad and main iPhone line (not SE) seem to be the only products that can be predicted with any degree of certainty.
The Air 4 launched in October 2020, following the Air 3 in March 2019, so purely going by the timing an Air 6 would be about due by September/October. Against that is that the Air and Mini have come in alternate years since 2020, making this year a Mini year. Then again, the Mini did go three and a half years with no update, so they could neglect it again and the Air could be next. Rumours also say no Mini this year, so who knows.