Russian cargo plane stranded at Pearson Airport in Mississauga owes more than $270,000 in parking fees

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Published November 11, 2022 at 1:33 pm

Confirmed measles in from Pearson Airport in Mississauga, Ontario: Whitby Durham Health Department

A large Russian-owned cargo plane grounded at Pearson Airport in Mississauga since Feb. 27 has racked up an estimated “parking fee” of more than a quarter million dollars.

And the meter continues to run. As of today (Nov. 11), the parking tab stands at an estimated $272,640, a figure that will continue to grow by $1,065.60 each day (74 cents per minute), according to Pearson’s 2022 aeronautical charges and fees schedule.

The fees are collected by the Greater Toronto Airports Authority (GTAA), which runs Pearson, and at the current rate, the parking tab will top $300,000 by the end of the first week of December.

According to Transport Canada, the Antonov An-124 aircraft, the world’s largest production cargo plane, doesn’t appear to be going anywhere soon.

The huge aircraft landed at Pearson on the morning of Feb. 27, just before the Canadian government declared the country’s airspace closed to all Russian-owned planes in the wake of the invasion of Ukraine.

A Transport Canada spokesperson told insauga.com in August that the Russian-registered aircraft will remain grounded for the time being.

An email to Transport Canada earlier today for any further updates has not yet been returned, but indications are that nothing has changed since late summer.

In an email to insauga.com, the GTAA confirmed today (Nov. 11) that the aircraft remains at Pearson.

And a post to social media earlier this week (see below) shows the huge aircraft still sitting on the tarmac.

A GTAA spokesperson said in August that “with regard to the parking costs, we do not publicly disclose the terms of the GTAA’s commercial dealings with other entities.”

However, Pearson’s 2022 aeronautical charges and fees schedule is available on the GTAA website.

It’s not known if the owners of the large plane have paid any of the GTAA fees at this point or what, if any, arrangements have been made with Pearson to pay the charges.

The massive plane was reportedly bringing a shipment of COVID-19 test kits from China to Pearson, via Russia and then Anchorage, Alaska, where it apparently stopped for refuelling just before its late-February landing in Mississauga.

Unless the aircraft receives an exemption from the Canadian government to allow it to travel home via Canadian airspace, it will remain at Pearson until further notice.

The cargo plane, registered to Volga-Dnepr Airlines, is reportedly one of a fleet of 12 such aircraft.

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