To those of you saying he should have gone to Ryanair;
If he had paid out the 20k, he would then be relying on NOTHING dramatic happening in aviation over then next 9 months or so. He would be on a Brookfields contract and from what I understand that means they can terminate your employment without much notice (if any ??). So, and whilst it is an unlikely scenario, if Ryanar suddenly found that far less people were flying, our friend here would find himself ANOTHER 20k (although if you read the figures it's actually more than 20k) down and having paid for a uniform
that he now wouldn't be able to use!
Congrats on the FI rating... Sounds to me like you made the right choice.
Good luck!