STW:
There is no shortage of applicants, which leads back to my original claim that C scale is sufficient to attract enough new pilots.
But what calibre of applicant does such a remuneration package attract? By CX's own admission the standards & experience levels are so low that they need to open up to DEFO's (Or...was that the plan all along since the concept of C Scale???) CX could pay even less than the C Scale package & still get applicants. Case in point is the number of applicants before the minuscule housing allowance was even offered! Sure, they'll be even more inexperienced & maybe able to accept the package due their partner has a good salary, or he/she is a retired banker at age 40 something.
And any DEFO leaving a legacy airline or the vast majority of airlines give up a seniority number only to start again at the bottom of a seniority list which equates to at least 12+ years till upgrade also questions the calibre of applicant in my opinion. Not to mention probably leaving your home country to live in HK, the most expensive city in the world to live in as an expat, on that remuneration package?
When the package was far better (B Scale) they attracted the calibre of pilot who deserved that package by virtue of experience, qualifications & credentials. C Scale does not. I can't see how anyone can say differently.
My experience from meeting C Scale guys & catching up with friends around the globe on B Scale is that it's those on C Scale are only too quick to moan to anyone who'll listen about how tough life is & how they're all off to EK to get away from CX. It's the B Scale guys who agree with you & choose not to judge a guy's decision. They just want to get on with it. But it's been their constant complaints that drive their angst.
I disagree: CX could have maintained B Scale when we consider the other full service airlines of the world competing in the same market, distant from the Asian Boom region. Add to that money thrown away due fuel hedging & international fines for deliberately breaking the law for price fixing. Yet its the pilots who suffer salary cuts?? Maintaining B Scale "might have" made for slightly lesser profits (but profits all the same), less pay increases to upper management & less bonuses, if other departments were held accountable. Let's call C Scale for what it is: a money grab at the expense of standards.