Well, Boeing are now building an aircraft (787) that is even more plastic than the most plastic bus, as 380/350 are using lithium-aluminium since they wouldn't guarantee the result of airbridge vs aircraft banging. Boeing zealots must be getting whiplash from trying to support big iron and whizzbang newtech at the same time.
That said, 17 years is short and there is a case to answer for Airbus here. Airlines generally write off aircraft over 20 years. It would be interesting to know what Cyprus' depreciation policy is, to see whether they anticipated an early write off. The corrosion due proximity to the sea is a good point but if so should we be seeing similar levels of corrosion on Caribbean aircraft?