At present, I would only be too glad to be able to worry about who to sign for and who offered the best pay and conditions. Aged 19 (admittedly very young and probably overly concerned), I cannot see any way of realising my life long dream. There is no news of any airline (except klmuk) resuming sponsorship schemes and for the vast majority these schemes are realistically the only way we will ever be able to fly.
To have a hope of having a decent career covering a few a/c types and progressing from RHS to LHS and from shorthaul to longhaul, you need to join an airline before you are 30, maybe slightly earlier! I plan to go out and work after uni and save every penny, but if I need to save £80,000 to pay for my training it will never happen.
I would give my right leg (which would somewhat hamper a flying career) for the airlines to restart sponsorship schemes. A few years ago, BMI, Air 2000, KLMuk, BE, BA, Airtours, Aer Lingus and a few others all ran schemes and between them probably trained 300 - 400 students a year.
From where I am sitting (a grotty university computer lab) a shorthaul RHS on the Airbus fleet at LHR sounds like a dream come true, let alone a RHS for BE in a RJ100 or KLMuk on a F50. Frankly, as long as I could afford to pay a mortage, eat, clothe a family, and save the pennies to cover the supposed pension crisis, the rest is just trimmings. I would rather be flying than do a 9-5 desk job in London earning £60,000+ a year. I simply wouldn't be happy!
Fingers crossed the industry continues to pick up, that the airlines resume their sponsorship schemes, that the government doesn't drag its feet for another 8 years, like they did with T5, before granting more runways in the southeast, that Stephen Byers is sacked so that the transport department can get on with its job, and that I win the lottery and will not need to rely on sponsorship to fulfil my dreams.