Why can't it be dragged out? People don't leave airlines and start over, generally speaking. Why won't GJ just go back to offering 56k bonuses to pilots to come there? Why pay everyone with a new increased pay scale when they can just "offer" the bonus to the new recruits? Heck, when you consider the high % of those that never get the bonus, the actual paid bonus would be what, maybe 20k per recruit?

Very rarely do airlines complete a new contract in a timely manner, not just GJ. But the 2007 GJ Contract ended in 2012 and was not renewed for 4 years, 2016. Why not just use the bonuses for as long as they can?