Here’s the catch.
If ANZ (or QF, VA, BA, AF, AC, AA etc) are as bad, if not worse, than CX in providing quality of life and remuneration, why is the movement of pilots between CX and these airlines not cancelling each other out? I can name dozens of former colleagues who have gone to each of these airlines, but I can’t think of the last pilot we recruited from any of these companies.
It’s a fair question to then ask why is everyone not quitting CX. It comes with a simple answer. Seniority.
Joining the bottom of a seniority list in a legacy carrier is like making a very long term investment. To withdraw early with zero return to then be able to reinvest long term elsewhere makes perfect sense. To withdraw 10 years later to reinvest medium term elsewhere is a gamble. To withdraw 20 years later to reinvest short term elsewhere makes very little sense.
Yet guys and girls still are. A 260 perecent increase in attrition in just 4 years is testimony to that.
And none of their replacements are coming from Air New Zealand.