who have been trained specifically for the type of flying they are looking for
And what type of flying is that exactly Gareth ?
If what you're saying is true, then surely every Airbus/Boeing/shiny jet operator will be clamouring at OATS' door, begging for their graduates ??
Interesting comparison there with the HS748, an aircraft that will be flown around in all weather, literally, mostly at night in this country, oh, and all hand-flown profiles and approaches as there is knack-all computerisation on board.
One could argue it takes more pure pliotage skill to perform these duties than operate a nice shiny EFIS/FMC equipped a/c ?
And I do not believe that by being prudent in choosing good modular ground/flight schools should be viewed as "on the cheap", nor do I believe airlines perceive it as such.
Everyone has their opinion on OATS, and whether it is worth the extra for the name, personally, no I do not believe so. Although I do not go along with some of the OATS bashing that can occur here, it has enough recommendations from people here for me to believe it is certainly a good training establishment.
But I think it would be incredibly naive of anyone to believe that in this world, the OATS grad will get the head start over his modular/non-OATS contemporary, life isn't that simple, regardless of how it is marketed.