To add to what Sagey has said: I completed the CTC Wings programme in March this year. I'm now waiting for Easyjet, which will hopefully happen in October.
I have had to get a job while I wait. I am a law graduate and I live in Newcastle. I was lucky enough to get a job with a start up company up here. My salary is around £20k (which is higher than trainee solicitors and accountants get up here). If I only make my basic salary (i.e. no commission) in a month, after tax, NI and student loan payments I am left with about £1300. My loan repayments to HSBC are something like £1200 per month.
Now bear in mind that Newcastle is one of the cheapest places to live in the country: there is absolutely no way that I could find a job up here that would allow me any money to live on in my first two or three years.
It is very definitely not as easy as "getting a degree so you have a fallback" or anything like that. Even trainee solicitors for a Magic Circle firm in London would only be making c. £33k in their first two years, and I know from speaking to mates who are currently on training contracts that they're struggling...and that's without an £80k loan to service!
You really do have to go into this with your eyes wide open. If you don't get a job with an airline for whatever reason, you are going to be faced with a huge struggle to service your loan; remember, if you want to live a £20k a year lifestyle with a loan that size, you need to be earning £40k before tax!
magic