Methods and systems are provided for providing secondary air to an exhaust system during catalyst warm-up. In one example, a method may include, during a cold start condition, operating an engine with a number of cylinders deactivated and a remaining number of cylinders active, and adjusting a first air charge within a deactivated cylinder of the number of cylinders relative to relative to a second air charge within an active cylinder of the remaining number of cylinders. In this way, an amount of secondary air provided to the exhaust system of the engine may be more robustly controlled, thus decreasing cooling of the exhaust system during the cold start condition that may otherwise occur due to excess secondary air.