Could it be simply that as the pilot shortage due a demographic shift of never before magnitude accelerates airline management is desperate to contain their 'labour unit cost' as low as they can?
- Pilotless aircraft inside 5 years?
- Strike breaking airline pilots?
- 1989 pilot's strike threats about redundancy?
- 2011 Qantas grounding and lockout?
Alan Joyce at Qantas ought be studied, his language when announcing the 'terminal decline' of Qantas international in 2011, before the now 'transformed' repeatedly contained continued implied threats of job loss, for cabin crew,pilots and engineers...statement after statement.
This doom narrative is typical at most airlines (indeed corporates) as they maintain an adversarial Industrial Relations posture and huge numbers of staff specifically designed to contain wage expectations.
Michael O'Leary's (Ryanair)language until very recently was consistently condescending toward his pilots and included implied threats of cancelling leave and job losses.
This is standard adversarial labour relations.
Unfortunately for O'Leary he is now on bended knee to his pilots as the shortage bites.
Their model is set up to be the standard adversarial model to which airlines aspire.
The one glaring error in their model is that it necessitates unlimited supply.
Take the threats as just that; the beast thrashing around!