Short
Yes the shorter term leases do cost more but if you schedule them right, a certain portion of aircraft will come due every year and you can get out of the aircraft.
Finance leases are basically structured leases that cost as it would if you owned them. Often there is a tax implication as well. In the end, the things that managment can deal with in large mainline airlines is somewhat limited.
As I said in the earlier post, it is not so much the wages that cause the problem with unionized workforces. It is all the costs around that unionization. Unions by their nature want to protect full time employment. Once gained, they certainly do not want to let anything go and so we always wait until things become a crisis. Even then, there is the old "it is a management ploy" mentality.
Look at Air Tran as a more positive example. There pilots came together right after 911 and came with a plan to take cuts if no one was put on the street. That willingness to deal that day not months of haggling later made a difference. Contrast that with AMR or UAL and their still trying to get things resolved years later.
This is why labor relations are important. Herb and the others had those type relationships where when the problem came up, there could be a response.
For the most part, it is why we do not have dinosaurs today yet small insects survived.
