I think MH152 has hit a very large nail on the head.
"identify as a huge change in the aviation industry"
I have no doubt that RYR have profited out of the pool of cadets willing to pay for the oppoprtunity (re: selection day) to pay for their own type rating. For RYR there is no risk in the process, but more importantly, they can cut their costs massively.
I suspect this is a small but significant part of how they keep their running costs down, and therefore their ticket prices competative.
Contracted staff only get paid when they fly therefore no wastge on annual salsries etc. Their cost cutting knows no bounds with escape instructions on seat backs, online checking, encouraging no baggage, the only cabin crew (to my knowledge) who pay for the priviledge of their training and so on.
With type rating costs being a significant if not huge cost of staffing an airline, and the ever present blinded desire of some to pay whatever it costs to get a RHS of a jet as their first job, lets not kid ourselves that other airlines are not considering similar exploits. Business managers have a primary role to keep a business working, their priority is not to maintain your terms and conditions.
Indeed there are companies who sell a worse product than RYR, selling a type rating with line training, where you pay to fly and don't have a job, contractor or otherwise at the end.
Much as I hate the way the industry is heading, I am one of those looking at RYR as a potential route because of 2 fundamental reasons. Firstly the jobs market is not flooded with lots of employers, it would appear that for a low hours pilot RYR is the only option currently. Secondly, I am middle aged, with a family, house and mortgage and thus flying instruction is so poorly paid that if there were a job, it wouldn't support my family. Don't get me wrong, I have saved and earnt every penny to pay for my training, but I can't pay my bills on £15000 per year.
As to how to pay, there are several options:
1. Bank loan - good luck in a credit crunch, and if you've already got a £70k loan, I suspect it's not going to be viable.
2. Bank of mum and dad - only for the fortunate few, and a risk to offset someone elses property on your gamble.
3. The national lottery.
4. Saving/investments - the sensible if time consuming option.
Just my thoughts,
Obs