It's a considerable benefit to the airline as well, no more housing, school fees and medical coverage. Just a hotel room when passing through. Crew turnover will plummet and they will attract people who weren't willing to live in the desert full time.
As long as they think carefully about Australian Long Service Leave entitlements, which will accrue from the date you joined your ME airline (even if they set up a separate company for based crew) - Cathay got badly bitten by this when setting up Australian bases.