But remember the 789 was a 763 replacement, and many routes the 763 was on to Asia (particularly Japan) was low yield in business due to the fact charter and tour groups made up such a huge % of the business. Honolulu was low yield due to it being a leisure route and everybody using upgrades.

Full cabins doesn't necessarily mean profit - and when you can fit 3-4 economy seats in place of a premium seat that may only deliver a small incremental revenue increase (or none at all if it's an RU) then putting more premium seats in doesn't necessarily make sense.

The new 789 config is for new routes requiring more premium seats, and had been planned for about 18 months.