Maybe they don't need too many people in the next year, and since ab initio takes over a year to complete anyway, there is no real need to cut back on the course. AE and TT on the other hand are completed in significantly less time, and courses starting within the next year are probably going be too much when you factor in ab initio course already started and will be completed within the next year or so. But thats only my guess.
It does also seem strange that people have been told and received confirmation that AE courses have been deferred, yet, in the flightglobal article, they still intend to hire quite a number of candidates through the AE and TT streams in 2013 quoting the source of information as the manager of flight crew recruitment. Also, why continue interviewing candidates when there is the intention to defer FG and course start dates?
