FERetd, without a management team, you wouldn't be taking to the sky. Bonuses are generally a performance sweetener to top up a generally low retention salary.
Desk-pilot I applaud your calm mannered synopsis of the aviation industry and agree with all points raised. Unfortunately legacy carriers are at a huge disadvantage to their competitors, be it low cost carriers or young longhaul upstarts such as EK. As our cost base is so high and revenue per flight is roughly comparable, our only hope is driving through change in order to survive.
The UK is not going to implement FTL increase so whilst our EU competitors will gain from this, it's imperative we find a way of matching their cost reduction.
Believe me, there is a lot of slack in the system.