The European Respiratory Society (ERS) celebrated the return of an in-person meeting in Barcelona, Spain, after two years of virtual congresses. The congress programme was replete with symposia, skills workshops and abstract presentations from all 14 assemblies, encompassing over 3000 abstracts presented in the form of thematic poster discussion and oral presentations. In this article, highlights from this year's congress (including that from thematic poster sessions, oral presentations and symposia from keynote speakers), presented by Assembly 5: Airway diseases, Asthma, COPD and Chronic Cough, are reviewed by Early Career Members and experts in the field, with the aim of presenting key recent findings in the field.