The real issue is return on investment.
1. Who has the sort of money available to them to spend on a expensive school?
2. Of those people who have that sort of money who will spend it on flying training? Spending $80 000+ on a very limited qualification to get a starting salary of $40 000 or less?
Also if recruiting slows down in the near future you may be stuck in your $40000 regional job for 3-4 years or longer!
I agree that training needs to get more professional but it has to be funded.
Either the salaries have to go up or the airlines will have to start funding training.
Geoff Dixon reckons that QF pilots are overpaid and says that they need to be more competitive with Asian carriers. Maybe he is correct and maybe Qantas needs to start funding the complete cost of pilot training just like they do in Asia.
Singapore Airlines is a case in point. The demand from people who meet the criteria for pilots is very low. There is alot of competition from other industries. If Singapore pilots had to go through what pilots in Australia go through there would be no national pilots in Singapore. Noone would be that stupid. As a result the airline pays for the entire cost of training and pays students to learn.