Just as promotion creates a wave of residual training, so does demotion/ redundancy. In this respect our fore fathers were very wise in their design of the award. Of course whether QF can challenge this is another thing entirely.
So consider how many residuals are created for 140 vacant promotion slots. Now work that in reverse.....and then factor in the cost to promote everyone again when things turn around in 1-2 years time. Personally I think carrying the supposed excess is a mega cheap way of doing things.
As for the over 60s, I'd always thought that QF had to offer VR before they went for bottom up redundancy but it appears that is an urban myth. Shame because an offer of VR (and say 12 months pay) would certainly create some vacancies at the top. Heck, we'd probably end up with some promotions along the way! Even if they offered 20-30 on the affected fleets I still reckon we'd get a pretty good showing....particularly given how redundancy payments are treated tax wise.