SRT
I don't think age is an issue anymore whereever. I know someone with only 400 hours who is your age who will be joining Ryanair shortly. I think you will find that a time will come where age and maturity will also become a factor for airlines to consider in the not too distant future. There was this school of thought that said an airline needs to get young people in because of the investment they were making in the individuals that they needed them to remain with the airline for a fairly long duration. However, it seems that the low-cost carriers now only keep the staff for around 5 years anyway so what difference does age now make? BA are moving to keep their crews on to age 65 now (instead of 55) as a pension issue mainly, but it also has much to do with retaining staff with experience for longer as well.
It won't be only the pale males who will be moving, as I recall Air Zim sent some cadets to train at Oxford back in the late 80's. Later some of these individuals, armed with a UK CAA license, jumped ship to go and work in the ME for the obviously more lucrative salaries. I'll bet it won't be long before the same thing happens at SAA et al!