Farman, I believe you are looking at this back to front. Firstly, the bases aren't economical (I won't go into the minutia of why, but you can be certain that for a whole host of reasons, they are not, and i've had that explained to me at the highest level). As for the command courses, not too hard to understand why: CX is planning on a large exit of quite senior people. To be replaced by more junior ranks on much lower pay and conditions. You can be certain that the deal we enjoy in HK now is about to come to an end (there will be a fairly short notice period (24 months) for those on ARAPA, and everyone can expect COS18 (or worse) beyond that. As for worrying about the cost of "attracting people back to HK when things pick up". CX will have thousands of desperate people willing to show up in HK the very next day to take a job. They will hardly worry about the grounded ex-CX pilots how may demure. I take no pleasure in stating these scenarios, but it is best if people plan based on reality. "Hope" is not a strategy. "Sitting on your hands" is probably the very best suggestion overall. Btw, I sincerely pray I am dead wrong on every single thing discussed here.