Aviation is a wonderful industry. But its a bugger to make money out of. This discussion is way over due. Romulus is spot on, the ALAEA is showing some leadership here and could quickly turn the tables. The problem is the 74s are retiring and no one is going to put in that much effort with such a short timeframe. AVV needs another line of aircraft. Qantas is notorious for being reluctant to take IR risk. You guys should be thinking about how you can make it attractive to bring in other aircraft types. Its not about pay rates any more, its about overheads and efficiency. Avalon could make a huge impact on its cost base by tackling supervision, AME/LAME ratios, training, white space, MPD multipliers. Much can be done. Then at worst you go out fighting!
Good luck!