Taylor01,
Interesting - I guess EK management doesn't trust the abilities of 777 pilots. Seems to work at Air France - the Captain who flew the first scheduled A380 flight from CDG to JFK was a woman who came directly from the 777 fleet... See her in the FO seat during training:
JetPhotos.Net Photo » F-HPJA (CN: 033) Air France Airbus A380-861 by Yann (Bzh)
I suppose Air France unions make a difference in this case. With EK, it could be a training cost issue - easier to transition from an A340-500 to an A380 with some operating similarities. Sure, Airbus aircraft fly a little different from Boeing aircraft but you would expect experienced pilots to be able to handle it - look at all of the mixed fleets in Europe with pilots transitioning back and forth. Oh well, you can't expect everyone to be rational and logical about these things.