Well if somebody wants the assets, or at least a large block of them, they're probably better offer doing M&A than waving their arm and yelling at the top of their lungs at the back of the auction house floor. Lessors might well prefer an auction (depending on the global economic prospects on any given day of the week).

There's a big difference between proactively buying it all, with a plan to do stuff with it (plan might include subsequently divesting some assets) vs. hoping that NK will liquidate and then hoping you're the highest bidder for the stuff you want.

If we go into a recession, that won't be good... lower odds of success for NK's new plan, and also lower odds that another airline will be in both the mood and financial position for M&A.