That's longer odds than the Aer Lingus programme last year which was one of the only fully airline-funded ab-initio programmes in Europe, they had 3,000-ish for 12 places.
I know the places offering type-ratings paid for such as TCX, Flybe and (I think) BA Cityflyer are going to be popular but I didn't realise there are still quite so many people applying. I'm guessing that's pretty much all of the unemployed fATPL holders in Europe who went for the airline mentioned.
Just goes to show, there's never a pilot shortage, even in the so-called "good times"!
Regarding age, I'd urge the OP (if they're based in the UK) to think about looking at the railway, quite a few train driver trainees who are over fifty when they start, let alone forty.
Last edited by Chris the Robot; 29th Jun 2017 at 13:15.