Originally Posted by TommyDevito

First, define "industry standard".

All jobs depend upon two factors, supply and demand. And this is what sets the pay for these jobs. If you have pilots who are willing to work for these wages that satisfies the supply portion for the company, hence no need to raise wages when the resources are available.

Start reducing the supply, pilots not applying and pilots leaving for better paying jobs, then the demand kicks in to increase wages to counter the diminishing supply.

However, in the history of US air carriers this simple concept is still hard for many to comprehend.