Conspiracy theory alert...
Maybe these "operational spares" are laying in wait for another infamous Alan Joyce grounding. This time the spin will be something along the lines of "after much analysis we've come to the conclusion that drastic actions are necessary to save the Qantas Group".
Red tails parked, swapped overnight with Orange tails (with subsequent savings in workplace conditions). 12-18 months later, integrated new Jetstar/Qantas fusion livery.
They did say themselves that measure would be announced in Feb? AND that everything was on the table....
