You are right. Companies finances are super secret. I simply ment that they probably don't have 800 million dollars lying around, spending it like it's going out of style. What do they have? 100 million? 200 million? 20 dollars? I don't know and I seriously doubt anyone else knows. If you ask TTT, they have no money. I find that very difficult to believe.
How much do I know about them? I'll tell you right now. Not much in the grand scheme of things, but more than most outsiders. Phil's info seems to be on par with what I hear. As I've said before - A good friend of mine has worked there for a while and he tells me things from time to time. He hasn't said how much money they have and I won't ask. As you say - it's a secret, but they have to have some money or they never would have got as far as they have. I could speculate from what I've seen from their setup and from what I see on this thread, but spreading rumors instead of facts is not very positive.
As for TC. A lot of people on the west coast know that most of the people at TC couldn't lead ants to a picnic. There are a million things that could hold them up. I know that some of their manuals are being held up, but are slowly being fixed. However with a startup you are last on the priority list with TC. They (TC) get to you when they have a few spare minutes. As for aircraft, HMY took 6 months longer to get their 757 certified in Canada because it has 2 overwing exits. They only ones before that had 4 entry doors and no overwings. Well no 747 has ever been certified in Canada in a pure freighter configuration. How long would that add to certification? God only knows.
It's been said before. They were probably a little optimistic as to how long it would take. But they are still forging ahead and are pretty positive about the whole thing. I still think they will go the distance eventually.