They'd rather fill their empty seats with prop drivers from all over the place than give any basing,
That's not the problem they're facing, GMDS. There are sufficient (though not plentiful!!) qualified applicants. What there isn't is capacity to train them. With the system at full speed, they still can't train enough people just to keep up with the aircraft orders. If anyone leaves, that's one more place they cant train fast enough to fill, and that's how it will be for the next several years.
Retention, rather than recruitment, will become the critical factor in the next year or so, so EK just might start coming up with some "inovative" ways of persuading people to stay.