No chance of XL basing an aircraft out of MME!
NCL is very profitable in the summer and the lack of winter flying ex NCL is due to a company wide cut in capacity. I believe they are concentrating on long haul in the winter as most of the other a/c go on lease to the US and Canada.
From my sources (XLA Head Office Employee), I hear XL are very happy with NCL so don't know where that runour has come from!
The MME PFO rotation is an ex-aJEt route I believe so it is not necessarily new - correct me if I am wrong?