Yes I'm aware of the "reasoning" behind the A33R Alloha, in that it gave them immediate access to wide body Airbuses (huge queue for them) to put on the local and regional routes, in replacement of older B772's but that's why no one else has bought them... you don't spend big $$ on buying a wide body aircraft limiting yourself to its future useage/routes and the A330 has proven itself as a great Long distance truck.
The 787 "regionals"...well that was a mistake and people lost their jobs over that.
The smart thing to do is keep the 777-268's, D-check, repaint & refit the interiors to the new product & you've got them for another 10-15 years, they owe you nothing and it's keeping more wide body seats in their market. EK crew call it the "John Deere" for a good reason and given the large amount of used B777's on the market right now your going to get zip for them anyway.
Anyway, I've got no wasta here so why bother caring.
"Just keep Swimming, just keep Swimming..." :-)