The difference between the 80's and today, is that in the 80's you only left Cathay for one of the following three reasons
1 Retirement
2 Ill Health / Death
3 Be Fired.
Thus they were not concerned about training costs back then . They knew that the workforce would, for the most part, be with them for 20+ years so it wasn't an issue . Plus everyone they recruited had thousands of flying hours
Today it's very different Cadets, and a lack of a long term career