Having used staff travel extensively around your “region” the last few months, networks and frequencies aren’t anywhere near what they were pre-COVID. If pre-COVID levels of flying achieved in Asia the pilot shortage should be glaringly evident. If China picks up it will be carnage with less obvious pilot markets straining ( Vietnam for example ).
CX seems slow off the mark versus say SQ. They aren’t alone. QF faces similar expansion issues in part limited by lack of pilots.
My prediction is by next year the global pilot shortage will fast hit Asia. Cathay will be profitable but constrained in expansion perhaps due a lack of Captains. Despite having flexible labour contracts its management seems lost in a legacy past. DEC’s make sense in excess of the trickle of ex-CX and ex-KA coming soon.