slowstream,
I'm a bit inclined to agree with what you say and have often wondered about this subject. It would appear there is an endless supply of pilots with whatever qualifications you care to demand. I think if you wanted redheaded pilots with one green eye and one blue eye, you could get all you wanted by tomorrow morning. But is there really an endless supply of 737 captains walking the streets in the hunt and willing to accept poor pay/conditions ? So it would seem.
On the other hand, several countries appear to have rather ambitious plans for their airline structures. China, India, Turkey, and lately Russia are all claiming big expansion plans and needing pilots. Are there really enough "experienced" pilots available to make all these plans work ? Wish I knew.
All these plans come down to money; if they want to make the money they'll have to move the airplanes without crashing them. This will take a healthy supply of experienced pilots until such time as the local society can provide its own.
If they want pilots, they may have to start thinking outside their self-imposed boxes and revamp their idea of what they'll accept and are willing to pay to get it. They need to get rid of the age 60 thing ( I know !! I've heard all the thoughts of the younger guys ), they need to hire "experience" and not just "...typed, current, and XXXX hours PIC in type...", they need to part with some money and actually train people and give good T & C's to attact and hold the people they need to make the plans work. Maybe they don't need to do all that.
Of course, I"M SPEAKING PURELY FROM SELF-INTEREST, but they need to look at people who've been out of the cockpit for a bit and recognize the available pool of experience that is sitting idle due to some requirements which just don't make sense. Hire the experience, spend some money training, and make an effort to hold on to good people until such time as they aren't needed to make their plans work.
I freely admit I know that I don't know all the factors, so I'm just thinking out loud. But it seems to me there is an untapped supply of pilots available; they just need to start "tapping".