Kiltie, taking on Captains from Monarch, BMI, etc sounds great but these are guys whom have retired from the majors. I gather an Eastern Captain earns far less than a Monarch First Officer (circa £50 000p.a)
Make no mistake every airline has its problems; Eastern could be a world beater of a company to work for if only they managed the Airline in a sane and sustainable way
I gather it is going from bad to worse in various Pilot related departments.