Delta furloughed 15 years ago. Welcome to this decade. In 10 years half ( ~ 6000) of all Delta pilots will retire. They’ve hired the equivalent of the entire Qantas group in the last 3 years. When did Qantas last hire ? Never had your pay frozen with rising inflation, or been stuck in the wrong seat for a decade or two ? Thought so.
Rising tide should lift all boats. That’s the point you missed.
Very easy to miss a point that hasn't been made. You were just comparing current wages I was comparing career cycle costs. Have a read of Sully's book and I think you will get some idea of what has happened in the US during the past 20 years. Oz pilots will get a good retirement out of their super whereas US pilots pensions have been tied to the fortunes of the airlines. Its only been recently that the US has been hiring so all those Delta pilots furloughed 15 years ago have only just got their jobs back in this decade.
Yes generationally Captain Sullenberger's snapshot is accurate, the key insight is
his career was in fact hindered by a combination of generous pilot supply and corporate malfeasance, where over and over (due Chapter 11) labour loses out.
It is just as relevant to recognise the trajectory of the last decades is changing. Airline management (HR/IR) succeeded driving unit cost (terms and conditions) so low that the industry lacks sufficient supply. It is changing in all western economies facing an increasing retirement burden (pensions, healthcare) a declining birth rate and due lack of income growth stagnation of real wages. These two forces, insufficient remuneration and demographic pressures will eventually shift the supply curve to meet the demand: conditions will improve.
Airline management are not used to this change, they are set up to drive conditions in one direction only.
The rising tide is lifting all boats, it will not be linearly, but it will lift as is evidenced by airlines positioning the chess pieces.
Consider the quiet approval of skilled shortage visas ( 4 years for how long?) as the first volley.
It is disappointing the union leadership in Australia refuses to assist the industry move the supply curve for the betterment of all pilots.