Deeko01 - can I take it you read the Sunday Mail - a rag that along with its stablemate the Daily Record requires its readers to (a) believe Elvis is still alive; (bb) have an IQ lower than that of foom temperature; and (c) complete belief in whatever they tell their readers? That particular sorry tale was written by a journo with no investigative abilities who was fed the story by Freeboot (aka Who?, Whoring Around, Freenum etc etc).
When the CalWings operations start next year then obviously we will have the requisite financing in place - as is required in every case by the CAA. Nice shiny refurbished L1011s are not exactly something we can get with a few Kellogs Cornflakes box tops, so I think you'll be able to discount tales of no money.
Just think - you'll be able to fly scheduled services from Scotland on a Scots owned airline with aircraft that originate from a company founded by Scots and which operates from an airport which is owned by Scots!
See you, Jimmy!
MachOverspeed - there's a great deal of difference between Atlas flying into and out of the UK on behalf of non-UK carriers and doing it for BA. The unions here (BALPA, and to a much greater extent, the IPA) have long had campaigns against 'flagging out'.
As for the 'sponsored' pilots, I was going on what you wrote there - the INS definition of 'sponsored' means that they have had sureties issued by US companies who guarantee their behaviour, their financial condition and that they will leave the country on the termination of their work/visa validity.
I envy you the rifle range - had to leave my Sig P226, Sites Spectre, HK MP5 and G3 back in Africa.