EK is needing somewhere between 800 and 900 pilots this year. They have used a contract agency before, a few years ago when finding bodies was a challenge. The days of shaking a tree and finding unlimited qualified pilots is long gone.
Thanks for the clarification.
Naturally they will spare no expense to keep cost down. When Dubai world is full of un-crewed aircraft then perhaps through the haze of a desert wind they will change, but like their counterparts in the antipodes lower labour unit cost is the obsession!