Same thing in my newhire class a few months back. Management specifically stated that Daddy D's 200 endeavor (see what I did there) in NYC is just a temporary plan. It was stated that not
all 200s will go back to the desert, but the majority of them will based on current plans... Just reiterating what management told us as well.
As for my opinion on this: who cares what happens to the 200s? 18 months is a
long time in this industry for things to change. Come 18 months, yeah, the airframes very well could go back to the desert as planned... or maybe they'll get extended 3 more years? Maybe we'll get 700s until they go to the desert? Maybe Atlanta will throw some E-jets this way? Or maybe there will be a hiring freeze, bonuses will discontinue, and we'll all be "stuck" (I doubt the last scenario, but then again, welcome to aviation).
I don't think any of us really know what the future holds, and while a little speculation can be interesting, I wouldn't lose sleep over any of this at night. Life's too short to draw on things that cannot be controlled.
