Whatever the finer points on Prov Fund entitlement are, a review of recent policy changes and (over)reaction to incidents forces me to conclude that Emirates is now actively trying to drive expats out without suffering the loss of company face that would come from it making pilots redundant. Being sacked or being 'resigned' or even genuine resignations are so much easier for the EK
PR team to spin. If you resign over the age of 50 are you still considered to be 'retired' by EK HR? That was one of the gems they tried when they were last trying to hide the real numbers.
Why the company would choose to behave like this is open to a certain amount of debate but none of the likely reasons bode well for expats still here.