If QF go down that path then they can up my pay to afford Inner Sydney or pay for my accommodation before the flight. $2m plus to live within 90 minutes of work in peak hour. That just won't work.
An interesting point you raise..
Looking at salary erosion in QF, it is clear that real wages have slid as with most other Australian workers whilst of course managers enriched themselves, ( I digress!)
How would a Qantas link operation place pilots in Sydney? Subsidy? Mandatory transfer? Perhaps an extension of the 457 visa scheme? Bunk beds in foreign owned rented Ryde flats for a few hundred a week?
Or perhaps eventually supply will meet demand if the market pays better!