Salary alone will never fix the problem. Pilots by nature are ambitious animals. Most aspire to fly a large jet and will do almost anything - like pay for their own type ratings - to get a window seat in a big jet. The bigger the better. Young ambitious pilots will sacrifice lifestyle and work their rings off in sh!thole foreign places if it means eventually sitting in the Captain seat of something like a 777. So Rex etc will not retain their younger pilots with money or promises of a laid-back life in downtown Albury etc (whoop-de-doo). Well, maybe a few young blokes are happy remaining on something like a Saab all their life, but I haven't met too many in my long career.
Older guys - like really old enough to have missed the boat - will stay if the workload does not kill them first. And other older guys who have been there done that could possibly be attracted back for a direct entry command, but obviously won't cop co-pilot salaries in a light turboprop like a Saab. Some of these will work out fine and others, especially if they have the skygod syndrome that often comes with flying in large flag-carrier airlines, will be a disaster. What would I do ? Get a deal going to train cadets on behalf of larger airlines in return for their service as F/O's for a set term. Open it up for DEC's and recruit experienced older Captains - being very picky about their atttitude and flying aptitude. Heavy-duty simulator assessments first. No psych testing, but, because old guys will usually fail these.
Budget maybe for a 10% failure rate, but get realistic with the check standards too. The Saab is not the space shuttle, though from what I have heard of Rex their checkies treat it a bit that way. Which also puts off older guys, not because they can't fly but because most of them are over the BS.
And of course, pay enough money to make it worth living in wherever it suits the Company, but with rosters flexible enough to allow a commute to civiilisation with reasonable time off.
Yes, I am smoking some good gear as I write this.
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