The old J cabins were well past their best by dates. At a certain point, it becomes a problem in that (a) customers try to avoid this product (which hurts revenue) and (b) things start to break, break down, fall apart, etc (which increases maintenance costs).

AC would normally have replaced these interiors years ago, but was already stretching them while they decided what to do with the 333s, and then the MAX grounding, and then COVID...

To some extent, the contracts may also have been signed before COVID and AC may have not had much choice from that perspective.

Lastly, keep in mind that AC has gotten through the pandemic pretty well and still has lots of cash on hand.