Personally, i think a lot of the comments on this thread are really sad. I'm young and single and do not have any debts but there are a lot of 34 yr olds with 3 kids who are trying to break into this industry. Any kind of extra payment is a very hard for them.
We can try to sugarcoat this CTC program but the bottomline is that it is still paying for a job, which is totally pathetic. Those students with a low financial standing will be at a disadvantage. And these students are supposed to be the reason these schemes where set up in the 1st place.
"sponsorships" in the aviation industry are actually loans and nothing different. i have friends who are currently being sponsored by IT companies(despite the financial crunch in that sector) and they dont have to pay anything. imagine if you go a £40k a yr job with a bank and then theytold you to pay £2k for an induction and then you'll be paid half pay for your 6 mth probationary period: i don't see any differnence b/w this and airline sponsorchips and schemes.
as far as i see it the results of such schemes e.g. CTC are as follows:
1. The cost of flight training will increase.
2. Students wih a better financial background will now have an even greater chance of breaking into the industry
3. Pilot salaries will go down
The only time i will pay an airline is when i buy a ticket and i hope more and more wannabes will take the same view.
By the way LEMON, you might think u r out of the woods now you've got your jet job but what this stuff i keep hearing about EZY pilots getting shafted and a proposed strike?
As for me i'm setting my sights outside the UK there r lots of jobs out there that dont required a down payment.