Indeed they do, but as FWF said it is a risky business and things are far from guaranteed. Then again in 15 months CTC may not be able to supply enough cadets to the airlines....who knows!
One thing still holds firm and that is you have to be in it to have a chance, just aware that a job may not be waiting at the end to walk into!
And on that note (as somebody in the application process), then once in the holding pool are you able to say start work in another job whilst awaiting placement? I have a short engineering background but could still walk into contract work if need be. Just keeping plenty of options open.
matt