Well said propjet88, training is what counts. And even more importantly selection before it. Some people need less time/hrs to get to the required level, and vice versa. Some people will never become very good pilots, some people get there fast. Human nature.
Decades of people who started flying fast (military) jets with few hundreds hours prove it.
And cadets straight to fast (commercial) jets with only a couple of hundreds hours are another sound proof (and this has always happened in all the majors, all over the world).
Having said all of this I agree that experience in very important, and no company should lack of a good percentage of its pilots with plenty of it.
As I said, i my opinion, the safest way is:
-Strict selection
-Good training
As simple as that.
The authorities should make it compulsory, and forbid any other way of accessing the job. And forbid any forms of charging the pilot for any training after the CPL. If you company can t afford this you end the business, end of story.
2/3/4000 hrs ONLY, won't guarantee anything.
When people with this background will have flown many years they will be able to train at high standards the new people, and so on.
Problem is..all of this costs MONEY, this is why unfortunately it will never happen.
So we can talk about this for years, but until REAL laws are made (to restrict the companies) and big changes in attitude are taken by the authorities, nothing will ever change.