Was it less tax or no tax on the money they will repay? I can't clearly remember. But what I did understand is that you will NOT be getting your full £56K back. For example, Pilot A paid for his training and Pilot B went through Wings, both pilots get paid £40K but Pilot A is taxed for the full £40K whereas Pilot B is only taxed for £30K assuming he gets an additional £10K tax-free. According to listentotaxman, a pilot on £40K gets £30.5 yearly after tax, a pilot on £30K gets £23.7 + £10K so Pilot B is £3.2K better off per year so £16K over 5 years? Someone double-check my math on that? If correct, it's a far cry from £56K but still, £16K is nothing to scoff at.