The pension holiday saved NATS from going under. If you don't believe that take a look at the two reports written by the National Audit Office, they are both available on line. If you think it was used instead for inappropriate purposes I'd like to see the evidence for that.
I was sure the pension briefing was quite clear that the pension holiday never saved us from going under, it helped our cash flow but it was only the new investment from HMG and BAA that saved us from going bust.
If NATS didn't pay off the £65 million loan early* (plus £15 million early redemption charge) then profits would have been considerably higher, there is no doubt about this. Profits in the future will also be higher because of this early repayment.
*Your credit card analogy is erroneous. Loans and mortgages are structured over a defined period of time to give the lender a healthy return. Paying them off early incurs a sizeable early repayment charge, in this case £15 million. Paying off your credit card early does not involve these charges.