The two statements you pasted are at odds to each other. The headline states that BA are restarting a sponsored scheme, yet in the next sentence you quote "hoping to restart".

Don't be seduced by any marketing spin until:-

- there are cast iron agreements in place between BA and Cabair
- BA have publicly announced that it is restarting a sponsored scheme
- you have gone through the details of the scheme (if there is one) with a fine tooth comb and know what you are getting yourself in for

After all of that you then need to ask yourself if you are feeling lucky. A select few get put forward to BA and many fall by the wayside and aren't up to standard.

May also be worth noting, in answer to the OPs latest post, that I was recently informed [by someone, the opinion of whom I would consider to be pretty much gospel] that Oxford are not anticipating anything at all with BA this year, or at the very, very least until post Q3.

Contentious it may be, but historically I don't believe [although could well be wrong] Cabair's rep with BA is as strong as those of FTEs or OAAs, so would think it unlikely that Cabair would have the nod ahead of these two (or indeed CTC).

Sad truth is I highly doubt anyone low hours will even be joining the hold pool at BA, let alone starting JOC/TR for another 9 months absolute minimum.

LTS - quoted letter from just over a year ago perhaps, rather than recently?

This letter was recieved earlier this year, early feb if i remember right.

Yes, i realise its marketing spin, my point is more that this could tally with what i was first alluding to in the original post.

Anyway, im not overly looking at BA sponsorship/self-sponsorship, theres other ways of getting into an aircraft out there!

But i guess we will have to wait and see!

What route consolidation? London - Madrid and Barcelona are the only shared routes and these are already code shared with an equal number of BA and Iberia flights!

If only it were that easy.

Traffic can be consolidated on one route, say madrid to south america, with a couple of 'feeder' flights from london to madrid for the uk traffic. Then you chop the London to south america routes. Airlines cut costs, pax get better fares and crew loose jobs.

Just one hypothetical example but there are a lot of savings to be made during a merger which are not obvious at first glance. Not good for bus drivers.

Or, put it this way, there sure as hell will be no additional flights as a result.

All pretty acadimic with respect to the OP- BA will not be sponsoring any time soon is the sensible answer.

Pretty much all the savings are likely to be in procurement / distribution / IT. Consolidation of a couple of Latin American routes from London to being via Madrid is of little consequence to the workforce, and will possibly benefit consolidation of North American routes.

BA will definetly be re-introducing its sponsorship:


BA traffic falls 7% in March as 300 staff leave http://static.pprune.org/images/smilies/nerd.gif

None of the 300 are pilots and March statistics are distorted by the fact that Easter fell in March last year and April this year. No one said BA were going to launch a sponsorship scheme during the downturn. However afterwards there MAY be expansion coupled with pilots retiring as they aproach 60, therefore a lot of recruitement may be needed and sponsorship could be considered as an option. My crystal ball is rather hazy right now so it is very difficult to speculate.