Just before Air Europe obligingly went down and supplied some drivers, there were fixed wing companies going bust because there were no pilots - and even if all you had was a letter confirming a course, you had a job (you couldn't get on courses for four years) - new pilots at Monarch were idle because all the training captains were out of hours.
The underlying shortage then has never really gone away, because there was a depression shortly afterwards and nobody was training, and I believe it will come back to bite with a vengeance, due to all those accountants who cut staff without realising that you have to replace people now and then.
It is now coming in the helicopter industry, with a shortageof good corporate guys in Europe, and slingers in Canada/USA
Phil