Eric Hartman
Well, to be fair, the 777 is more than 25 years old and considering that, it did a great job in these dire days. Its range vs. freight capacity made up for half empty cabins better than most other aircraft. Logically enough the 787/350ies will do much better once some pax volume picks up, they are much younger.
The article about a shift in EK paradigm should therefore only be read in respect of a dwindling prospect of reactivation of a lot of 380ies and that's what should bother many stranded pilots around here.
The solution, at least to logically wired brains, would be to pick-up the 787/350 slots of the unmentionable, which is dying slowly but surely, and start working the EK network with them. No 380 reactivation and a slow 777 phase-out. That would mean jobs, but mostly jobs filled from AUH as a compensation, with most probably a compensation livery on them as well. Not the news EK pilots like to hear, but i guess the local brain wiring would rather keep their frames on mindlessly expensive palliative care than cave in to economical logic, so no imminent danger from that side.
My guess is that for the short term EK will work as it is right now. They will observe the pandemic situation in Asia, esp. India, and the pathetic situation a bit further south, before making any decision.
Not exactly what the LWOP like to hear now unfortunately.