They can't, because their working conditions are terrible compared to those other airlines. Nobody with thousands of hours of jet time would ever switch from a US or EU legacy carrier to someone like Emirates.
This is pretty sad. Emirates, for all their glory doesn't pay their pilots well. I mean, what's the point in spending on stuff like fancy first class seats and all that without paying pilots well. True irony. Fanciest and the most comfortable airline for the passengers, the exact opposite for the pilots.
It's not just pay, it's also very demanding schedules (which is a safety concern, many incidents happen due to crew fatigue) and zero labor protection in UAE laws. I know a few ex-Emirates pilots that got fired during the pandemic, they were treated like trash almost literally thrown out of the country.
I've been a frequent flyer of Emirates for the past ~ six years. From my perspective, the airline suddenly changed about three years ago. The quality of their service dropped and still every time that I take an EK flight, I notice something else is missing from the service. Flying Emirates does not have any glory anymore.
They still have some of the brand association of luxury, but indeed it's a very normal airline just like all the others. With similar service, legroom and food. But with no direct flights, which is less comfortable.
It’s more a question of Emirates being a relative newcomer with no strong unionization, and therefore not having to align with the absurdly high salaries the legacy carriers are saddled with. Compared with other new airlines (EasyJet, Ryanair etc) Emirates pay quite well
