El Cap just told me that he engaged in confabulation with a suit from Wacker. The suit was supposedly one of the big maint / fleet honchos.

Suit said UCAL had planned to begin parking the bus in 2015 but they have decided to schedule them for heavy maint and keep them till 2020.

Given that the planes are flying at record load factors (making tons of cash) and that we desperately need the lift, this sounds like the first good decision I've heard come out of the Willis Tower. Time will tell.

Long live the comfortable, quiet, plastic jet!