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Those people that got called to the first stage; it was a matter of meeting age requirements, and I believe not having a CPL (as that would be too much experience).
For the waiting list that you mention of, and for making it to second round, it is simply from test scores. No CV, no age, nothing else ( I believe that is what the captain told us). Simply top 10% of the test takers. I think the captain said something like 1/10 people will make it to second round.
As for Europe having an advantage, they never did. It was always a level playing field. It's just Etihad needed 9 to start for Nov, Europe was lucky to have the first assessments, as most of the applications and candidates were from Europe. I would assume that just to make it fair, they might take 9 less from Europe for next years start, but then I could be wrong.
Cheers