Does the whole possibility-of-retiring-at-65 thing have something to do with the fact that the french pension fund for pilots and cabin crew (CRPN) is desparately short of cash? The number of retirees is steadily growing since people retire very early while the number of people working sort of remains constant. The french government has been introducing all kinds of measures to stop the bleeding (like forcing foreign airlines to employ their personnel based in France under french contracts, paying into the CRPN), raising the retirement age is another one.
Any thoughts?