Auto lessors--the captive finance arms of automakers, banks and independent leasing companies--are terrified.

FORBES: Guilt by Association

On Tuesday, the government run Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) ordered lessors with unpaid Kingfisher debt to confiscate 15 aircraft, most of them Airbuses.

FORBES: On Verge Of Bankruptcy, Kingfisher Airlines Loses Airplanes

Chapter 11 also allows a company to reject unprofitable leases and supply agreements or use the threat of such rejection as leverage to obtain financial concessions from lessors and other counterparties.

FORBES: Big Deal: Reflections on the American and US Airways Megamerger

But if the carrier offers, say, 25 cents on the dollar, aircraft lessors like GE Capital (which owns 20 United planes) may just repossess and try to redeploy the jets to overseas carriers.

FORBES: Deathwatch

Some lessors had successfully retrieved jets from Kingfisher as financial problems forced the carrier to shrink and ultimately stop flying, but others became embroiled in a dispute over unpaid airport and other fees owed by the airline.

WSJ: Regulator De-Registers 17 Kingfisher Jets

But the process has been delayed for several months, especially because the state-run Airports Authority of India has asked for clearance of its own dues with Kingfisher before the planes could be taken back by the lessors.

WSJ: Regulator De-Registers 17 Kingfisher Jets