Spoke with a Ryanair 737 guy yesterday who got a cold call from an Emirates recruiter. The recruiter why giving him the hard sell on Emirates, telling him how great it was and why his family would love living in Dubai. He said it was almost like a telemarketer call, every time he said he was not interested the recruiter would ask why and then try and counter with reasons why it was good.
Two other guys in this conversation (took place while on a lunch break at an interview...) have had friends who had also had similar calls in the past few weeks.
Sounds like desperation is setting in.