I'm not sure exactly what NB had in mind when he said that expansion plans had been stretched over a longer timescale. The airline seems to be on track to achieve the planned doubling in its 2002 size by 2012 or thereabouts, and I've heard nothing to suggest that that plan has changed. The A380 entry into service is delayed (probably to 2009), but the extra delay over and above Virgin's 2-year order deferral of two years ago is all down to Airbus.
Command time has been covered before, and it's a very imprecise science. It depends almost entirely on expansion at present, though retirements will become of proportionally greater relevance before too long. As tired says, 8 years is the going rate just now. For guys joining in 2006, my best guess is that they'll wait 10-12 years, but there's no way of knowing how accurate that is - so don't sue me if it takes 20!