A similar situation existed when I first went to asia in the mid-seventies.
SQ was extremely short of B707 Commanders, and was offering a reasonable salary, but was loosing some guys to the mid-east, where the salaries were higher.
This forced SQ to raise the starting pay, but they were still behind the eight ball as regards crew numbers, especially later on, on the 747.
Most airline companies management can't reasonably plan beyond next Tuesday, never mind longer.