Buster the Bear
I think you will find that this aircraft is not the only one, that will have a row or two of seats removed.
It was decided months back that they were going to have an extra leg room area, at the front of the cabin.
The A321 are going to be likewise, sometime in November for use on the Scheduled flights.
The last two years, two B757 have had 219 seat config in the place of the normal 235 charter config.
So these flights were not subsidised and who says that crews might end up being local in the end.