If you owned an airline and you bought in a new jet and had some guys that had taken a rally long time to get a command, cadet/passovers would you want them to jump straight to the 380?
I heard one of the guys had no 4 engine experience, never flown NATS and about 300hrs total P1. I think EK have no problems upgrading guys on type or putting experienced commanders onto new aircraft but don't want to do both if they can avoid it. Seems reasonably smart to me but what do I know.