Apart from training departments it also depends from the quality of the pilots you recruit.
If you need experienced pilots to fly your fleet because you need them to be LR captains in a few years you also have to pay them.
Usually experienced pilots are with at least around 10 years flying that means aged around 35. Except play boys usually at 35 they have a wife ( or more
) and at least 1 or 2 children. That means higher expenses to run the family.
If the package is similar to the one you have back home............. you know the answer.
I think that the biggest mistake of GCC airlines management is about considering their pilots like those from other majors.
If You are French and you fly for AirFrance you think about improving the package but not leaving your home country.
If you are French and you fly for emirates you must have the same package as in AirFrance plus a consistent extra to live far from your home country.
At the end we all are here for a better life. A better life is made by the package, the services, the workload and other things.
If you have the same or barely the same lifestyle you have back home why should you come in the middle of nowhere?????
Flare