I don't think I'd read too much into that really. CX has never really known what to do with KA since the day they bought it. KA was a potential threat. It owned KA house, most of its aircraft and had some pretty impressive expansion plans. Shanghai route alone made $2M US a week profit. CX paid close to $2 Billion US for KA but had no plans. KA shrank 30% in size over the next few years with CX management dithering over what to do with it. Tony Tyler with his " intelligent misuse of widebody aircraft" concept stifled growth at KA whilst allowing HKA and HKE and a multitude of Chinese carriers to monopolise the limited slots into Hong Kong.
I think they've run out of ideas again. No need for trainers at KA. CX on the other hand........