I've played in the current theme game from the beginning and have not felt a need to cut costs. In fact, with default employee settings, my cash is growing exponentially just like it did in previous games. Average salaries have gone up by $1, not down at all.
Lucky you.
I've been steadily cutting down salaries with my new airline and I managed to get the loss down a little. Still I'm afraid of getting another aircraft and opening more routes because I fear that the lease payments, maintenance fees, employ training/salary, taxes, and fuel prices would kill me.