The problem is that the old BA flight scheme of many decades back (or the RAF) had thousands of candidates to choose from. The modern school has one - the guy at the front desk with a chequebook. And the basic aptitude of that candidate, in terms of intelligence, cognitive ability and hand-eye coordination may be excellent, good, intermediate or dire. But he still ticks the box and gets the job, because he (or she) is cheap.
Yes, but remember that the airlines are businesses too.
They have to follow the market, and the market now wants to fly cheap. How cheap? As cheap as possible. Fine, then I'll have to cut anywhere I can.