Bottom lines?
Nice to see some stats here but the bottom line is that people will always need to get from A to B...
I say keep plugging away at your studies and worry about the job market when you finally have your qualifications. I am not saying it will be easy to get a job with an airline but then again, when has it ever been easy? If you are contemplating undertaking professional pilot training or are contemplating borrowing/remortgaging I'd say wait. For Gods sake wait!
WWW says it's 1990 all over again but that's just speculation from someone who wants to show they've been around the block a bit. This reccesion could very well damage many airlines, but it might just the same be a storm in a tea cup. At the end of the day air travel has grown hugely in the last 18 years so comparrisons with the last downturn are a little redundant (scuse the pun!) if you ask me.
BA were laying Jumbo's off weeks ago. There has been plenty of warning about this 'crisis' and governments and banks the world over have taken unprecedented action. Hatches have been battened and budgets reduced. The media love the drama and thrust it down all our throats but fail to realise that we're in a new age and anything (including positives) could happen.
Keep yer chins up. I don't think it's gonna be easy but like I said above - it never has been.
VFE.