It will be interesting to see the next future in aviation. To get a pilot license has been quite an expensive education and we are talking pilot shortage for quite some long years. My feeling, this is just a shortage of cheap pilots, not pilots at all. There are maybe thousands of unemployed right now on Europe, but they won't work for the salary the typical pax is financing with his 50 bucks round-the-world all inclusive habit.
So, two choices: costs for the ticket has to go up or pilots salary go down. From experience of the last couple of years, option one is unlikely. Consequently they have to find a way to make pilot production cheaper. One way is for asian countries to cash in their cost of living advantage and produce hundreds of, maybe even government paid, pilots. By this you could take over the whole industry. If someone like Al Quaeeda is smart, they could do the same ... Do we want such and is there an alternative?