Why is it two years out of date?
The only significant differences that I can see prevailing two years ago, were that unsecured loans were often available for these courses, and the global economic markets had yet to start melting.
Loose credit markets, and expansions in relevant sectors of the market, enabled these programmes to attract unsecured lending, coupled with a high likelihood of career placement with partner airlines at the end of the training. However there was always a risk, and the terms and conditions of contract never provided for a "guarantee" that obviated that risk. Unsecured lending, didn't mean unenforceable or unrecoverable lending either.
When the recession bit hard, those partner airlines not only stopped their input from these programmes, but they also made swingeing cuts to the terms and conditions of their existing employees. Many made redundancies, and some went out of business. Credit markets dried up and unsecure credit for what had now become a highly risky endeavour, became a thing of the past.
For a commercial training provider with hundreds of people in the pipeline what were they supposed to do? The terms of contract stated that there were no guarantees of placement. The airlines were under absolutely no compulsion to provide employment where none existed. The whole supply line simply backed up with nobody taking that supply any more.
In fairness, the company apparantly went out and negotiated whatever opportunities it could find in a almost moribund marketplace. The "flexicrew" placements it obtained (and I assume you were alluding to,) were significantly less attractive or enticing than the prospects that had prevailed previously, but in a market where highly experienced type rated pilots were sitting at home with no relevant employment, they were something where otherwise there would have been nothing.
Many of the previous partner airlines are still in existence, and as their own business starts to improve, will in all likelihood start to intake recruits once again. The terms may or may not change depending on the conditions prevailing at that time, but the prospect for future "bond transfer" still exists.
This programme, even without the job placements, is broadly no more expensive than similar integrated training provision from the other major schools. No matter what your views on "flexicrew" or similar schemes, the truth is that they have recently been the only games in town, and if airline flying still remains the end goal for these low hour candidates, then this has still been one of the primary routes to that goal.