Yes, quite a few didn't turn up however I'd hardly call it a poor turn out.
So, you think that 58% of candidates turning up for only the FIRST stage is OK?
Yes, that's almost HALF who didn't turn up. If they had opened 1000 places for just London and only 580 turned up, would that be a good turn out because 580 people came? I would say it's hardly a good turn out!
Let's say for arguments sake that it costs £50 per person to be assessed at the first stage, due to hotel bookings, flights, assessors pay etc etc etc. That's £30 000! Now if you take that and divide it by 350 you get approximately £85 per person. That's assuming it costs £50 per person, but I would probably guess it's even higher. Do you think Etihad would consider an almost 70% rise on the cost per candidate to them as being good?