Stranded Russian plane has $95,000 in parking tickets at Pearson Airport in Mississauga
Published May 27, 2022 at 12:06 pm
A large Russian-owned cargo plane that’s been stranded at Pearson Airport in Mississauga for the past three months has racked up a “parking fee” of nearly $95,000–and counting, by the minute.
At a rate of 74 cents per minute, which works out to $1,065.60 per day, the fees owed to the Greater Toronto Airports Authority (GTAA), which runs Pearson, will top the $100,000 mark by next Wednesday.
And the Antonov An-124 aircraft, the world’s largest production cargo plane, doesn’t appear to be going anywhere soon, according to Transport Canada.
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.
In an email to insauga.com, a Transport Canada spokesperson said the Russian-registered aircraft will remain grounded for the time being.
“The airspace restriction remains in effect until further notice; as a result, the aircraft remains grounded where it is,” the email reads.
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Russian registered Antonov An124 is now parked on Taxiway N in Toronto. It will sit here indefinitely. They planned a departure this morning,since cancelled.Arrived on Sunday from China via Russia & Anchorage. Russian aircraft are banned in Canadian airspace.
Volga-Dnepr RA-82078 https://t.co/OGXNFInAQU pic.twitter.com/3rfxhRDUs5— Tom Podolec Aviation (@TomPodolec) February 28, 2022
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.
A GTAA spokesperson confirmed with insauga.com via email that the aircraft remains at the airport, and is being charged in accordance with Pearson’s 2022 aeronautical charges and fees schedule.
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.
Also, officials with the GTAA and Transport Canada haven’t said what became of the stranded aircraft’s flight crew and any passengers who may have been on board.
The cargo plane, registered to Volga-Dnepr Airlines, is reportedly one of a fleet of twelve such aircraft.
Eleven additional shipments of rapid test kits were to be delivered via Pearson Airport in March on Russian cargo planes, but they were cancelled.
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