STW, to counter your argument regarding the cut in Ts and Cs being a death nell for CX;
1) It could limit any recovery (missed opportunity) due to a lack of pilots. Yes, there will always be takers, but they're the bottom of the barrel, so they likely won't pass selection or training, or take and awfully long time to do so. And rightly so, as the trainers attempt to maintain the standards of old.
2) An incident/accident/hull loss creating bad publicity and loss of confidence amongst the flying public due to either the ineptitude of the new recruits, or more likely, due to stress in the flight deck amongst the old guard.
HUTT out.