BTW, have Flybe now abandoned MPL ? No mention of it at Cabair
Flybe only run the MPL in conjunction with FTE and OAA. Both of those schools have current MPL courses underway, with the first FTE MPL grads already under training at Flybe, and the first OAA grads due to start training with Flybe in the New Year. The second courses are not due to graduate until towards the end of 2011 at the earliest.
The other sponsored schemes are both 'traditional' ATPL courses and run at Cabair and PTC in Ireland.
For both types of scheme, the sponsorship element is more correctly described as a tax free, interest free, deferred loan. It is made to the candidate at the commencement of their training to assist with paying up front costs (tax free), and is repaid from salary over the first five years of employment (interest free). Flybe do not ask for any additional payments towards type training, and new pilots are bonded instead for 3 years.
It's not everybody's cup of tea, but it attracts enough applicants for Flybe to select a perfectly able supply of new pilots at predictable points in time with the minimum of fuss.