Migration between an old MacBook Air and new MacBook Pro NOT using wifi. Can it be done?

Your new MacBook Pro needs to be connected to Wi-Fi during its initial setup process. That is also one avenue of using a Time Machine backup from the Air to perform a migration. If you don't do the migration at this stage, you disable Time Machine on the new MacBook Pro settings > General > Time Machine, and then mount the Time Machine drive from the Air. Then launch Migration Assistant and use the Air's Time Machine drive as the source. No network connection is necessary during this process.

Upon completion of the migration effort, dismount and store the Time Machine drive from the Air, mount a new Time Machine drive (formatted APFS), and then revisit Settings > General > Time Machine and tell it to use the currently mounted drive, and then enable Time Machine. It will then perform a full backup of your new MacBook Pro.

I recommend having the new MacBook Pro connected to a charger while performing the migration process.

Yvonne Ashmore wrote:

Migration between an old MacBook Air and new MacBook Pro - NOT using wifi. Can it be done?

You can copy your data to an external drive then connect that drive to your new computer and copy the data to the new drive.

You can connect to iCloud or any other file sharing/synchronization service to get your data to the new computer.

You can use a network connected drive to copy the data from your old computer to the new computer.

To reiterate on what has been said - use a Time Machine backup.

You do already have one, right? If not, then you absolutely should.

As the saying goes, there are two types of computer users: those who have lost data, and those who will.

Not having a backup is not ascribing any value to your data.

2 Cents here.

One Size does Not fit All 

If the new computer is going to be the Apple Silicon M1 / M2 Equipped Computer - would suggest Only Migrating the User Account and nothing more.

 Transfer to a new Mac with Migration Assistant

Some have had success.

Others have been left with a mess when Migrating everything.

1 - Apple Silicon with Ventura macOS 13 Only Support everything 64 bit and there is no workaround.

2 - Issues that may exist on the older computer will be migrated to the New Computer. This would badly pollute the new Original and Pristine installation of the new OS.

3 -  Applications, extensions and Software Drivers may or may not even work on the new computer.

4 - IMHO - it would be best to only install new application etc Directly from the Developer or the Apple Apps Store.

5 - Due Diligence on New Applications and make sure they are Ventura / Monterey / Big Sur compatible and factor in the ARMs CPU of the Apple Silicon Computer