Bizarrely, maybe it's not about the money?
SIA gave it away, Ops never wanted it, the bean counters did. It wasn't money but having to run separate rosters and the limitations of having to get crews back to base at the expense of the Singapore based crews and having to operate to other countries' labour laws. Different to CX in that the majority of pilots were Singapore based by choice.
Have to admit it is much easier to run one roster from one base so supply and demand enters the equation.