Originally Posted by Adam Smith

I've wondered whether that might happen. Where did you hear that though?

I doubt it was a ploy for improved lease terms. I suspect it came down to timing - COVID was still raging, the need for large widebodies was significantly reduced, and the lease came up for renewal, so they let it go. Now things have changed and they could use the capacity, so they brought it back. I wonder whether AC paid the lessor a fee to keep the paint job, interior, etc in case they wanted it back. Not like the lessor was going to be able to place it again quickly.