Well it's hardly that controversial OBK, you've just described the Buzz and BE sponsorship and the rest of the Cabair-affiliated sponsorship schemes.
Here's a better idea though ...
Hold a FATPL, IR, and MCC
... and anybody that was offering anything resembling 'sponsorship' would still have thousands of applications!
Classic current example is Easyjet's so called 'sponsorship' for a type rating which I'll bet is absolutely snowed under with 500+ hour, self funded pilots queueing up to throw 23 grand at the chance of a 737 rating.
If they wanted to, I reckon a crowd like BA could easily take fully self funded FATPL holders, bond them for the same breathtaking amount as their ab initio cadets and still get loads of applications. Sh!t I'd do it in a flash, I'm a hairs breadth away from 2,000 hours now with 500 multi and I'd still be better off on a BA cadet's package than what I could get at most regionals or turboprop operators.
Come to think of it, hey Rod Eddington are you reading this??
