I think Barclay's end game is to get as large of a portfolio of US Airways customers and eventually sell it to Citibank.The other possibility is to trade it for something that Citibank has. It doesnt make sense for them to keep it if they can't add new customers. Retaining existing customers will probably take more incentives and rewards, which sort of offsets any money they get. That pool of customers is only going to get smaller over time. Might as well sell it as early as possible for as much as they can get.
At that point, all of us with Red Aviator cards will probably get grandfathered in to a $89 annual fee AA Citi Platinum card.
I want the Silver Aviator so I'm hoping they give us that option soon.