You know people complain about pilots buying ratings, as in Ryanair. But here with the MPL we have people buying the whole thing, including the job.
At least with a normal mentorship, you are in fact getting an fATPL at the end, usuable for any flying job. In an MPL you're getting the promise of job which 'due to market forces' may or may not be available on the day you qualify. Thus you will be left high and dry, no job and no usable qualifications until you spend even more money to upgrade to a 'real' licence. Worse still, if you find yourself out of a job before you get to the magic 1500 hours and an actual ATPL in your hands you end up like the Sterling guinea pigs. Unemployable.
Now this may not apply to FlyBe, they may be around forever. But the Sterling example is more apt. As more and more airlines pick up the idea the bigger the risk. With any downturn airlines dump pilots or go bust. Any MPL pilot will be left high and dry. Incidentally are there any FlyBe mentored fATPL pilots floating about in the pool at the moment? I'll bet there are.
Make no mistake the MPL seems like a good idea. Produce well trained pilots groomed from the start in airline flying. Get them to pay for it. No risk to the airline. It's a brilliant idea for airlines. Lousy idea for potential pilots.
What is actually needed is a generic airline MPL that can be used for all airlines. That won't happen though.