Airliners cost millions of dollars to buy, and cost a lot of money even sitting unused. Potential revenue per plane is huge if there is a market underserved. If anyone has an airplane they can't fly because they don't have pilots, they can and will offer a lot more money than the pittance currently being paid. That day is coming, seems to be coming quickly. It might start at regionals, it might start at corporate, it might start at flight schools. It seems to be happening overseas already. Simple economics, nothing more complicated than what happens when you need gas and see gas prices have gone up. Maybe I'm wrong, but so far i haven't seen a lot of people leaving their cars and walking/bicycling to work.