There are two factors of Emirates' seemingly sudden fall: greedy growth and rotten organizational culture. Both of them are equally important. The author of the article only analyzed the consequences of the growth, hinting the lack of union, law and employees' satisfaction. Therefore, this article is not objective nor completely informative.
CM can cut as many costs and allowances as he wants - treating the symptom of the disease is not a cure. He is trying to stop the cancer spreading, but if he wants to treat the cancer itself he has to regain the trust of EK's employees. To introduce some rules and justice. To respect people and their dignity. To not underestimate human intelligence and their capability to undermine the company by not giving their best at work and by spreading the bad word about the company.
Seems that big companies grow up until the point when everyone start to think of it as an autonomous organism. A company is a synergy of everyone involved. Cutting the costs is just a defence mechanism, a partial thinking, if done without healing company's human resources. And it seems, as always, that nobody deals with people at this sensitive moment. It might be the very reason why there is no salvation for EK...