I hope they are not hoping to raise anything out of TAAE!
I've heard that the problem is a large 7 or possibly an 8 digit number. They have been trying to find a buyer/investor for quite sometime and everyone has walked away so far.
As someone else has indicated, AAE can't let the operation stop completely as the 727 operation is now too large a part of the network. Hence the reason for seeing if NJ or Pelair can operate it. I'm betting on NJ myself.
Must be some red faces in AAE though for the original choice they made.
Someone today said to me that the only thing they were surprised about was that it took 8 months.