I think this whole scheme worked well for everyone when Ryanair was growing and at the same time was losing hundreds of pilots per year who were moving to greener pastures (and the sandpit). At the moment though everyone is holding on to their position in the hope they will fly some hours this year. Will there be place for the new guys when the company is already this overstaffed? You can not compare the current situation with any pre-Covid period and creating the expectation that career progression will be the same is absolute nonsense.