The rot set in years ago with the slow and steady erosion of the profession . Airline managers have regarded pilots as an expendable commodity... they have the delusional idea everyone wants to work for them.
Pilots are not low hanging fruit and it's blatantly obvious the shortage is going to get a lot worse as the competition intensifies and the talent pool dries up.
Covid was the long awaited excuse airline managers had been waiting for to get rid of the top earners under early retirements, or one off redundancy pay-outs. Now fast forward to 2023 airfares are sky high with load factors to match, but airlines are struggling to attract the talent.
The root cause of the issue is the common systemic management agenda to undermine and undervalue the profession whenever and wherever possible.
IMHO airlines don't need more analysts or HR managers they need people who understand the problem and are prepared to stand up and be unpopular with the CEO , CFO and the shareholders - the profession is worth more and it's about time it was recognised .