Dictionary.com defines poaching as:
1. To trespass on another's property in order to take fish or game.
2. To take fish or game in a forbidden area.
3. To become muddy or broken up from being trampled. Used of land.
4. To sink into soft earth when walking.
5. 1. To take or appropriate something unfairly or illegally.
2. Sports To play a ball out of turn or in another's territory, as in doubles tennis.
So how REX can then complain that their pilots are being poached is beyond me. Free market economics cuts both ways. The pilot market has been in airlines favour from the inception of Kendall and Hazo's for the first time in any of these company's history they are running into a labour supply problem. To try and solve this issue by complaining that major airlines who pay DOUBLE what you are paying are "stealing" all your pilots is illogical. If you were the RAAF and the airlines were paying out bonds for the pilots that could be considered poaching however people who are attending interviews of their own free will are not being poached.
Funnily enough in the USA some regional airlines guarantee a certain percentage of their pilots will get into mainline!!
From the Australian November 9th 2007
REGIONAL Express has blamed poaching of pilots by low-cost airlines for the suspension of some of its air routes.
Rex deputy chairman John Sharp said the airline had been losing significant numbers of pilots to low-cost operators Virgin Blue and Jetstar.
"We would like to think that both Virgin Blue and Jetstar could do more to solve their pilot shortage problems than just raiding regional airlines," Mr Sharp said. Both Jetstar and Virgin Blue have hit back, saying they were not poaching, as pilots naturally wanted to move from a regional operation with turbo props to jets.
And those two airlines are also losing pilots to overseas airlines offering higher salary packages.
Rex announced the suspension of its Brisbane to Maryborough service on Monday, blaming pilot shortages.
That suspension followed a network review to identify the routes with the lowest load factors, and followed a similar initiative undertaken at Cooma for the off-season until May 18.
The airline has also been forced to cut a third of its flights between Sydney and Wagga Wagga until Christmas.
"The shortage of pilots has been described by Qantas' chief pilot Chris Manning as even more catastrophic than the collapse of Ansett," Rex managing director Geoff Breust said.
Speaking at the Regional Aviation Association of Australia Convention at Coolum last month, Captain Manning said the pilot shortage was the worst he had seen in "my 37 years at Qantas".
Rex sees its problem as only medium-term. It claims to have had 700 applicants for its pilot cadet scheme, with the first batch of 20 to start their 32 weeks of training at the Rex pilot academy on December 10. The airline has teamed with Mangalore Airport in a joint venture to create the Civil Aviation Training Academy.
The academy expects to accept up to 80 pilots in the first year, but has plans to increase the intake to 350 a year by the third or fourth year of operations.
The first few intakes will be reserved for cadets recruited under the Rex Pilot Cadet scheme, after which the Academy will accept private students as well as those sent from other airlines, both local and international.
Rex chief of staff Jim Davis said Australia would need "1800 over the next two years, but the supply of new Airline Transport Pilot Licences every year in Australia is less than 400".
Under the Rex pilot scheme, pilots will be sheltered from most of the $80,000 cost of the pilot training, in return for a five year commitment.
The airline is also pressuring Government to do more, by providing loans similar to those in tertiary institutions.