It sounds like quite a few variables going on, I'm a PPL student at the moment however from what I have gleaned over the years from various contacts I'd say that you'd want to ask the following questions:
Who has said you can begin training at the end of the year and under what conditions will that take place?
Has the airline announced/made any pilot redundancies/furloughs? If so, it's to be expected that these will get priority ahead of you when it comes to recruitment, especially if a union is involved.
Is the sponsorship still being offered as originally described, are there any changes?
What happens if the airline doesn't take the trainees on as first officers at the end of training? There could be several reasons for this so each one might have a different clause and/or contractual outcome.
I presume that it's an airline-specific MPL programme on a common aircraft type, if the airline doesn't take you on at the end of training, how transferable is the training? Bear in mind that it's much easier to transfer an fATPL than an MPL.
How financially viable is the airline, you've said it seems healthy but have you been through the financial results/public accounts at all?
Has the airline said what sort of contract you'd be on at the end of training? They could offer you a zero hours contract and give you little/no flying time.
How easy would it be to resume your current career if you weren't offered a place at the end of training? How much do you have to lose by giving up your current role?
I think it's impossible to predict how the pandemic will develop, whether there will be a second wave etc. so don't put base all of your future plans around this specific programme.
A couple of recent events to consider are:
An orange carrier who also operates the A320 didn't take on trainees at the end of their MPL training. Those trainees have over £100k of debt, it may be a lot more money than the amount listed above but regardless of whether it's €15k or £120k it still needs to be serviced somehow.
A large operator of the Dash-8 recently entered administration, their MPL cadets who were being/had been trained on the Dash-8 didn't have many options since there are not many other operators of the type.
There's probably various other things to consider but that's what I can think off of the top of my head.
Last edited by Chris the Robot; 16th Jun 2020 at 16:13.