In terms of likely salaries, the number I was quoted after completion of training is £24,000 - this doesn't include the bond repayment which would be on top of the salary. It also doesn't take in to consideration the loan repayment. I am still trying to work out a likely 'take-home pay' figure... I doubt it will be glamorous, but if I am sat in the right seat I won't mind! I could be quoting wrong but I am pretty sure they said by year 7 your salary will be up to approximately £66,000.
As a (very) rough estimate 24k works out at about 18k take-home. For a loan of 100k at 5% interest rate over 11 years (9 year bond repayment + 2 years training) works out at about 1.2k / month. Virgin will be paying ~1k so you'll be left with ~1200 / month take home initially, maybe a bit less if interest rates rise. Some other things to consider though:
- I don't know if the quoted figures include duty pay, this could add quite a bit to the 24k
- 66k after 7 years equates to annual pay rises of ~5.5k, not many jobs offer that!
- I have Nno inside knowledge so some or all of the above assumptions may be incorrect
Overall I'd not worry too much about the salary. If you weren't going to be able to make the repayments then Virgin wouldn't be guaranteeing a loan. As a new start cadet you can't go expecting to be loaded.
With Easyjet's scheme the whole equation changes. When it is your parents house on the line you need a substantially more secure financial offer than a Flexicrew contract IMO.