Are the owners of Loganair willing to inject money into the airline (or provide guarantees to any lender) ? Alternatively, have the owners of Loganair decided that the risk of making such a commitment is more than they are willing to accept and prefer instead to write off their existing investments in Loganair and walk away from the whole Scottish airline business ? Earlier this year, Virgin/Stobart knew it wasn't worth putting any more money into Flybe and just walked away
The owners of Loganair may be rich, but they may decide they would like to remain rich instead of spending a big pile of their personal cash on the islands
Loganair doesn't generate big profits even in the best of time. If the owners of Loganair have decided that Loganair will be a major black hole over the next 18 months, then in money terms they are best off walking away from Loganair and putting it into voluntary liquidation.
The owners of Loganair of course aren't answerable to voters and if people on remote islands can't get to the mainland, then it's Nicola Sturgeon's problem.
Bmi Regional was put into voluntary liquidation - so the Loganair owners could be credible if they make a serious threat to close down Loganair
Thus, if Loganair's owners can convince the Scottish Govt that they really would put Loganair into voluntary liquidation because it would be too much of a money pit to keep Loganair going, then the Scottish Govt has to find some money. That Govt cash can of course come with strings attached (e.g. part nationalisation of Loganair) but the onus is very much on Govt - how much taxpayer money will they invest versus how willing they are to make the people on Scottish islands make do with the ferry for the next 18 months instead (with all the associated consequences)
Some people might call this 'game theory'. Others would refer to it as a game of chicken, waiting to see who blinks first