The downside of having a single type rating fleet in lean times is that training costs of furloughing are also much less than at an airline where furloughs mean that people currently flying 787s must be retrained to fly A220s.

The upside, however, is that if NK management tried to aggressively go after domestic market share they could probably be successful since the costs for the Big Three can only go up as they downsize and furlough their cheapest and most productive personnel. That appears to be the tactic WN intends to try, despite being constrained by an older fleet and the continued grounding of the MAX.