That was my point Lucifer, I have an economics degree etc.
Pilots are Unionised, and although this situation admittedly weakens their bargainning power I bet BALPA would not be too impressed people taking ridiculously low wages. It has a tendency to drive down wages in the industry.
The Airline industry needs fairly high wages as obtainning an ATPL is one hell of a Barrier to Entry for wannabes.
Supply and Demand do come into the equation admittedly, but so does Price setting and probably more importantly wage setting. They are all interlinked but it is far more complicated than just S+D
Sagey