Icanseeclearly
There is more money in the economy now than ever. A lot of this is waiting to be spend on travel, only government restrictions are are holding this back. US now has crew shortages and large orders for new aircraft. Airlines like southwest are paying double overtime.
The same will happen in UK and Europe. Furlough can and probably will be extended again if there is any risk of unemployment.
Most pilots are not flying but still employed. It's not entirely because of furlough. Airlines know that the first back into the game will be big winners. They don't know when, so they need to keep ready. That's what cash reserves are for. Even Norwegian is planning a comeback, and there are quite a few planned Startups.
Many early retirements means there are much less ready pilots than before. And the shortage was apparent then.
People want to travel. The internet can't replace or substitute that.