Apart from the Central Section who are well behind for some reason RFDS pilot's are remunerated fairly well. Although there is always room to improve. As far as losing contracts is concerned this will continue until the RFDS gets competitive. You just can't blow endless amounts of public money favouring one operator if they are hidiously expensive. On the other hand I would say that if the RFDS is within cooee of the cheapest tender they should get the work based on reputation and the fact the money stays in the country.
One way to help the RFDS be more competitive may be to consolidate and get an economy of scale advantage over the competition. Fight fire with fire!
SN