Originally Posted by
codfather
It is quite interesting how they can't really make significant changes to the schedules with all these planes that were slated to go to China. I guess it would be far too costly and difficult to make adjustments to the schedule so that they can be used more frequently.
Seems like the logical thing to do, but airline schedules are not really subject to (significant) change.
Stored away from ice (read: salt) and with suitable lubing up, several months of idle time will cost little more than financing interest. It's hours and cycles that cost;, fire extinguishers and bandaids that expire based on the calendar are cheap.
It could easily be months to get space in a maintenance hangar, or expected parts on the shelf.