WN you are correct AaE brought this on themselves, however they were not desperate. There were 2 other properly constructed proposals on the table by other operators at the time, at realistic costings.
However TAAE were falling over themselves to grab the operation at an unrealistic bargain basement price, with I have heard "inside" help, such that the other propasals were dismissed out of hand and CASA was in muddying the waters also.
Some heads could and should roll within AaE over this debacle.