potkettleblack has the right idea, but some of the mechanics of finance are wrong.
Erm, yeah right. I really hate willy waving but your a cargo charter manager and me well I did this very thing in the City for about 8 years. One thing I have learnt about finance is that there are no such thing as "rules" or what you can get away with in situations like this. Another thing is to write in a manner that your audience will understand. I could have mentioned MBO and leveraged buy out but the pilot/engineer/groundcrew audience of this thread would have fallen asleep by now
If your a bank/supplier/whoever with your back against a wall you would be surprised what people are willing to accept. To outsiders accepting 30-40p in the pound might be unreasonable yet to a bank with a debt book in the billions it will be an acceptable loss to take.
The value of the a/c is really a secondary issue. Assuming the bank is the main creditor we are dealing with then their sole aim is to recover their debt. In undertaking an MBO all you are really doing is asking them to keep a portion (or all) of their debt in. Whether this is as a mix of debt or equity is semantics although doing it as a mix will enable the company a degree of breathing space and provide improved operating cashflow. In return typically the bank will go for security from the people behind the MBO such as 2nd mortgages etc. By putting in place a management team with a proven track record then you give the bank confidence that they will get their debt repaid according to the repayment schedule.
Your points about whingeing pilots and engineers etc are a bit naive. The mechanics of how the new Holdco operates is all dealt with in the business plan that will be agreed with the bank in anycase. It will include any capital expenditure plans and deal with whatever "gadgets" you can think of or not as the case may be. Having a CEO & management team that shows commercial experience of the freight market and impresses the bank will be key as will presentations to the past customers to win the contracts back which will no doubt be an integral part of a successful deal going ahead. As will presentations to the existing staff securing their support for the deal and ensuring their buy in.
Anyway there are many ways to skin a cat so to speak so no real point in discussing semantics until such time (if ever) that someone fronts up and if necessary we can all chip in with some advice.