Tron , I think you are right - the news of BA recruiting APP graudates has two sides to it. On the one hand, BA gets the cadets which Oxford instructors consider to be 'suitably qualified', and resembling previous TEP candidates; the other one this is a great marketing coup for Oxford.
But - apart from BA's sheer manpower/retirement considerations - I'm actually wondering whether BA actually needs to recruit OATS graudates to meet long-term goals. Sure, it's a straightforward solution - qualified individuals who probably haven't screwed up anything in their previous aviation career (that being all of 200 closely guided hours), are being recruited.
But long-term, any airline can only survive by recruiting committed, high-quality individuals who are focussed and dedicated to the company. I wonder whether this goal is being met by BA's recent decisions. These graduates are new people who may be easily mouldable and 'fit in' with the same corporate paradigm that TEP cadet's have met years ago. But so many people - ranging from check-in agent to 744 captain - are pissed off with BA. I need not remind you how many are disgrunted with the way things are done, no matter whether it involves scheduling, pay, or benefits.
It may well be the case that new graduates will fit in well with whatever BA currently things its future captains should be like. Chances are, they can be moulded enough 'to fit'. But it's an illusion to think that a long-term solution to the problems BA is facing (particularly amongst its workforce) are resolved by taking on people who closely resemble the clones of the previous TEP cadet scheme. It's essentially a blast from the past. Aviation is changing. BA - in terms of so many aspects crucial to survival in today's competitive marketplace - has not. Under Captain Eddington, Shareholder value has become more important than any other consideration which a prosperous company needs for long-term survival. BA needs people who challenge the old paradigm, come up with new ideas, and are dedicated on taking the company into the future. NOT the old types who proudly wear the wings of The World's Favourite Airline and work there as drones until retirement. But finding individuals who meet this requirement (as well as being good pilots) is extremely difficult - so APP graduates seem to be the answer.
Oxford is a wholly different aspect. The APP isn't a superior product; it's just marketed better than many competitive programmes. Hey, how many image transformations has Oxford gone through in the last couple of years? New logos, new brochures, new web sites and marketing people have come and gone. Mr. Petteford may have gotten them to figure out the right way to get new customers eventually. But does this change the quality of the course? No. The APP remains an outrageously priced product which promises - essentially - nothing.
But it doesn't matter - although Oxford's products aren't superior, they're very good. Individual instructors do, of course, have a bearing on how good the 'product APP' actually turns out, but I think it's indisputable that the Oxford Instruction isn't bad.
What IS bad is the promise of a right-hand seat, which seems to have been further strenghtened by the recent BA coup. It's great news to all wannabes to see this as a "direct route in". But two things mustn't be forgotten: Oxford isn't the only option for first-class flight training, nor is BA the first-class choice as an employer that it once was...