Think about also the 70 or so B777 rated pilots Etihad require this year alone. I say Rated but that will be difficult to find. They will therefore pull out of the same pot as EK. At the end of it all we are all mercenaries. Who ever will pay the most will get the pilots.
As far as Boeing guys leaping ahead of Airbus guys in the command stakes. You have short memories. Airbus guys were doing the very same to the Boeing guys a couple of years ago, just after they did away with the Transition upgrade. In one or two years the reverse will happen again as the A380 arrives and they need the bodies there.
