haughtney1, my background is 2 1/2 years in the airline industry and 5 months on the ATPL training as an airline cadet. My view is not rose tinted in any way, it's entirely realistic. At no point have I suggested that anybody who goes through this scheme is guaranteed a job, god I'm not even on the Thomsonfly scheme. However I disagree with the view that this is simply a money spinner for FTE Jerez.
Sure a few lucky souls who enter into a contract with these FTO's will be cherry picked and added to BIG AIRLINES crew roster if they actually neeeeed people. The VAST majority will be sidelined..
I think maybe you're missing the point here... We are talking about an airline scheme, one where few are selected to train under the airline's umbrella and the airline in question on takes on as many as it thinks it will require upon graduation. Why would Thomsonfly go to the effort of organising this scheme, investing money in the selection process (which they do, it's not all done by FTE), give staff numbers and access to the company intranet to successful candidates, send a liasion Captain down to visit and take them out for dinner, request regular reports on their progress etc etc... I don't think any airlines are interested in boosting the finances of FTO's but I do think they're interested in ensuring they can fill the right hand seats of their aircraft in the future.
You say that because this is an airline scheme it is 30-40% more expensive than training with an FTO without such affiliation, i.e. it is an integrated scheme and therefore more costly than the modular route. I'll agree, prices may be more as a result of offering a good chance of a job at the end, the last 2 courses to graduate have all finished with all cadets doing rather well when it came to employment prospects.
Frankly I'm not interested in arguing the point anymore, it's been done to death and, no matter what anybody says, there will always be cynics with a different point of view. I'm glad it's that way as we can have an open debate on here which is what Pprune is all about. However I think it's fair to say that your chances of success are far higher by training under an airline approved scheme than training with nothing at all. Furthermore, with no contract insisting that you have to refrain from joining another airline for 6 months after graduation in case they decide they do want you, it means that while you have the possibility of joining Thomsonfly you can still accept offers from other airlines should they come in in the meantime.
Again I would like to wish everybody applying for this scheme all the very best of luck.