oicur12, I believe an economist would call the "pilot market" a market failure. There is a great deal of asymmetry in the relative powers of the the two sides, on the one hand, there are really only two or three buyers and many many sellers. informal collusion or tacit agreement between the employers is possible to ensure the "pilot market" is effectively rigged. Exec's even
boast of this.
Of course this suits everyone, except the pilots. When the wage component isn't even equivalent to the
GST on the airport charge's component (for a domestic airfare), you know something is not right. You could argue the "pilot cost" component that may have existed in the past, has been appropriated by the airports monopoly game. MacBank is harder to push around than the pilots, said another way, its easier to take from crew than pick a real fight with the airports.
You proffer TG or Fiji salaries to compare, but not the living costs in those countries, why is that? It is what your pay packet will purchase that's important, not it's quanta.
Market forces, you must be kidding, there's no such thing, its a rigged game.