Well I can think of a couple of reasons.
Firstly, it takes quite a number of years to build extra runways and terminals. Therefore, such plans are made with a long-term view. Whereas, you might have noticed, we're in a short-term industry recession.
Secondly, even in the boom hiring periods (so called pilot shortage times), there are people who 'qualify' as pilots, but holding a licence doesn’t on its own make you
employable as a pilot. There are always unemployed "pilots". At them moment, when there are few vacancies, the hurdles are raised even higher than normal putting jobs out of reach of even some very employable pilots.
Those of us with memories long enough have seen this before. Hiring in this industry is boom and bust. Mad George permitting, things will look very differently in a years' time. That is little comfort for those who graduated from licence courses during the last 12 months with huge debts to service. But it is pretty good news for anyone entering training now; as long as they have what it takes.
It's also why sponsorships are starting to happen. It takes a minimum of 18 months from commencing recruitment to start of line training. 2004 has always been flagged up as a peak retirement year. Add that to an industry recovery and the fact that there are few people entering training at the moment and you can see why airlines are putting their hands in their pockets.
