It was interesting reading parabellum's comments on the other thread:
... when today's over sixties cut their teeth in aviation there was no such thing as a cadetship...
Many of QF's over 60s are ex cadets. Heaps of them. They served their time as S/Os- many for 12-13 years before spending just 2-5 years as F/Os before upgrading to command in the mid to late '80s.
There was no such thing as 'superannuation', if you wanted a pension you saved it yourself...
Most of QF's over 60s have extremely significant super savings. If they don't then it's because the ex-missus has half.
Finally, the retirement age when we joined was 65 in most airlines and many of us had to stop at 60 when the rules were arbitrarily changed. We lost five years pay and pension as senior captains.
The retirement age in QF when most of our over 60s joined was either 50 or 55. Many of them have had careers extended multiple times.
With those things corrected, it's still their right to continue on. The fact that we have 100+ Captains over 60 (and many on the 744) has certainly changed the dynamic over the last few years and blown out some of the times to promotion accordingly but that's life. I reckon if the market rebounded back to 6000 by the end of the year many of them would go in a hurry. If it doesn't then they're welcome to stay on the international fleets until international law precludes them from operating that type or they can bid back to the 737 and 767 and keep operating until they can no longer hold a medical or pass a sim check.
Personally I think any intention to be rid of S/Os would be extremely short sighted by QF and I'd be surprised if they actively pursued that outcome. That said, it's something to be wary of.