Flew 900 block hours with some European Flag Carrier subsidiary in 2008. Legally...
If they set a limit, why not going up to ?
The way they count down helps building hours, you can remove 5mins per flight to achieve our definition of "block hour" : From the moment ACF start moving on its own power till it's stop"
With an average of 500 flights per annum, you're saving 40/50 hours. Not that far from JAA limits then.