Just stirring the pot Arnie'.
Truth be known of course, no airline manager worth his/her salt would ever offer a rise in salary to attract crews to a new operation, let alone progression. In fact the opposite is true. ie: E-jet - 20% drop in salary, 777 - Further 20%, NZ and Sing positions on A320/30 for less money than many turbo-prop captains. etc, etc, Bawahaha!
My point is, the
Only way for Virgin to compete in the regional market would be to decimate it's opposition before the first shot is even fired. The only way to do that would be to bleed white the opposition's skilled workforce, and the only way to do that would be to offer a deal in excess to what would amount to a "sideways step". That of course would go against the very nature of airline management (they are only interested in driving conditions down), and like you, I am well aware of that being something that will never happen.
As for "hard yards". I'm sure we could compare notes on that subject!