The EU market is different to the yanks. Their regional and private sector is bigger than ours hence why instructing and aerial work and corporate work is a realistic way of building hours before joining the airlines.
I was down the local flying school which 'used' to be busy but now its completely dead due to mainly financial reasons on the students behalf. So the instructors are left twiddling their thumbs, so really instructing isnt a great option. Aerial work hmmm how many of those do you know off the bat? Parachute jump trips? Well you need around 500-1000 TT and high PIC time which comes down to more money.
The cost to hire a C172 is about £148 per hour assuming you finish with 300 hours to add another 400 hours comes to £59200 excluding landing fees.
And at the end of this you will have 700TT around 300 pic time yet you meet non of the requirements to get a job on the jets and you dont meet the requirements even for Qatar SO position.
For £21,000 including Vat you will have a B737 SSTR add another £20,000 your on a Line training program + 1year employment by the end of this you will have close to or even more than 1500 TT & 500+ type.
You can see why its very attractive in these tough times. The problem is airlines having high requirements, which the insurance companies dont help and by having all the loco airlines having partnerships with CTC OAA taking on only those guys instead of the other modular guys who done the same training as they have.
CTC and OAA have paid their way in, its just sugar coated.