this is not kind of the case that all applicant pass, CX will take all of the applicant. such as there are 100 applicant, pass is 50%, 90% of applicant over 50, slot only 10, would they still take all 90% people to be cadet?
Is there no competition?
As I said, cake is such big, what is the chance to have 1 of it?
Who knows, CX didn't mention amount of slot for local and expat
slots?
mate, there are no slots. the selection process is all about being able to jump over a bar, that's it. if miraculously one year there are 100 people who apply for a cx cadetship and subsequently all make the grade, cathay will want to retain all of these people, local or expatriate, even if they cannot afford to give training to everyone at the same amount of time. this has happened before and will continue to happen again.
let me give you an example to illustrate this, perhaps this will help you see the light.
in late 2007 the Dragonair cadet course for that year (DA9) graduated from training in Adelaide. however due to the lack of training resources in KA they were seconded to CX to serve as S/Os for a year. the lack of training resources was due to a myriad of reasons, which are beyond the scope of importance in this thread. the important thing is, these conditions did not vastly change throughout 2008, and it was easy to see that given the new direction of Dragonair, the airline would probably not need anymore pilots or have the facilities to train new-comers. early this year, another batch of Dragonair cadets graduated (DA10), yet they have remained unemployed for over half a year now, due to the very same reasons that banished the preceding class from working in KA. however in mid-2008, KA still continued its recruitment of cadet pilots. this batch are the latest batch of Dragonair cadets training in adelaide (DA11).
why do you think KA still recruited cadet pilots, despite the fact that they obviously didn't need anymore new pilots? the reason is because despite their probable incapacity to train these cadets once they leave flight training in adelaide, the company did not want to let these men/women with potential slip from their grip and end up working for some other airline. Dragonair would rather recruit these cadets and train them, and hope that training resources will become available at the end of their training. and what happens if KA aren't able to train these newly-graduated cadets once they graduate? just take a look DA10. they have been unemployed for half a year now, and the situation for them does not look very rosy. however once things pick up, they are sure to be given phone calls and start dates.
what i am trying to say here is that airlines would rather tie you to them with a cadetship and ab-initio training, rather than let you slip away to their competitors, especially when your employment could save a bucket-load of cash for them. obviously, this is based on the condition that you satisfy the airline's requirements for a cadet pilot. with a mindset like that, do you think airlines will limit the number of people with potential they take?