The last AE bidding closed on January 16. I think it was January 19th that the MEC voted to forward the contract for ratification. Sure, people read tea leaves before bidding on the last AE, but contractual details were far from certain. Folks now know and understand the landscape for the next four years. They’ve had a very brief peek at what min day might do to the optimizer. Many pilots may also be positioning to hedge against global financial stagnation or collapse -smartly or otherwise.

Time will tell. Heck, we might not even have an AE this summer. Stranger things have happened.