The situation in Finland is not very bad, actually it seems to be one of the best in the world! I have no facts to back up my statement, but consider this:
Every year Finnair trains approximately 30-45 pilots of 1500 - 2000 applicants. They train you from zero time to CPL with the ME done in their King Air 300, in 18 months (PPL 3 months and CPL 15 months). If you succeed during your training and if Finnair has free positions, they will probably hire you (no guarantee, though). Then you will be given the type rating for ATR-72. The interesting is from the student's point of view, that the whole thing from 0 time to CPL costs only 50,000 FIM, that is 8,300 Euros. Not bad, don't you think? Naturally you would have to speak and understand Finnish.
The trick is that Finnair is a state owned company (58% share). So the state pays one part of the training, Finnair pays another part and the rest remains for the student. Kind of a sponsorship, but still very open and approachable option.
If you don't get accepted to the Finnair training, the next best thing, Pilot Factory (the only JAR-FCL approved private flight school in Finland), costs 385,000 FIM or 64,000 Euros for 0 time to ATPL.
There is no question which is my primary choice, although if I need to invest that 60,000+ Euros to get to my job of dreams, I am ready to do that.
My point is that even though there are also those "traditional" and expensive ways of becoming a pilot, Finnair offers a realistic option to get there. Being accepted by Finnair does not automatically mean a job, but getting your PPL, CPL, NVFR, IR and ME & BE300 type rating for 8,300 Euros is not a bad deal. Not at all.
Levente