IIRC, the original information that was released about the retirement of the DC-10 also included the fact that a couple of 747's were going to be brought back from the desert to help accomplish this. Perhaps they will end up on the KIX-HNL and the second NRT-HNL runs. Given that it will be the winter time, when everyone wants to go to Hawaii, this is a definite possibility.

As for the 757's on Atlantic runs, that has been discussed in a previous post. Again, IIRC, the "rumored" routes were from the US to various cities in the UK, Ireland, and also Brussels. All of these make a lot of sense to bypass AMS and provide direct service. Given the apparent (or at least intimated) differences that are currently going on between NW and the new KL-AF, it should be no surprise that NW is looking at offering some alternative routings that do not include AMS. Those "rumored" routes also mentioned a 757 might be used on a DTW-AMS run, and the speculation was that it might be a special configuration with only WBC (similar to the second KL flight AMS-IAH). Again, this all makes a lot of sense. It looks like there is a lot going on in the Route Planning department at NW that we are not privvy to! But then, I do not think anyone at NW was very happy when Air France added their own flight from CDG to DTW!!!!! It has been hard enough to fill one airplane on most days, let alone TWO!

Sorry if I got off topic there, but I had to get that in! It will be a sad, but inevitable day, when the old 10's are finally retired. They were a great airplane in their day (once Douglas fixed the cargo doors and strengthened the floor supports and re-worked the control mechanisms in the tail) and have provided a lot of pleasureable flights for me over the years. As much as I love the A330, I will surely miss the DC-10 workhorses. I just might have to plan a flight for the first week of January!!