They will ABSOLUTELY spend tons of money on initial new hires, all day long before they EVER raise pay rates for the rest. They can spin these expenses to their stockholders, ect. as controllable short term, temporary cost. But pay raises are long term cost. You're already seeing them offer $5K sign on bonuses, and $10K scholarships to new hires, but not offering a single penny to those already on property beyond 1st year pay. They not only have a "hiring" problem, but more importantly, a "retention" problem. If they could offer a new person an additional $15K (in bonuses), on top of their $25K 1st yr salary, to get them in the door and avoid across the board raises, they'd do whatever they have to. Management's problem is: any raise, be it just for first year pay, or all FO's, or the whole pilot group has to be approved in an LOA by the pilot's collective bargaining association. Their union is not likely to allow a pay raise for a small sect of the group, while the whole group is grossly underpaid. Otherwise, that allows the company to fix a small part of their own mess, at the rest of the pilot groups expense. So, since new hires are not part of the union, nor under that airline's CBA, they can be offered anything possible by the company, without the rest of the pilot group being entitled to it. The LAST thing any airline managers want to do, is to implement pay raises. Those are permanent costs, that they will not be able to take back for a decade, if ever.