Russian Plane Stuck in Canada Racks Up Over $300,000 in Parking Fees

The sanctions imposed on Russia after its invasion of Ukraine have significantly impacted that country’s economy, particularly its aviation industry. Russian commercial carriers, like state-owned Aeroflot, have resorted to cannibalizing aircraft for spare parts. Most countries in North America and Western Europe have also banned Russian airlines from their airspace. The most extreme example is a Russian-owned Antonov An-124 stranded in Canada, which landed before the sanctions and now can’t take off, racking up extreme parking fees in the process.

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BlogTO reports that a Volga-Dnepr Airlines Antonov An-124 is still sitting on the tarmac of Toronto Pearson International Airport, 395 days after it landed. The Antonov arrived in Canada to deliver COVID-19 test kits from China on February 27th, 2022. However, the Canadian government closed its airspace to Russian-owned, chartered or operated aircraft on that same day. With Russia still waging its invasion and the sanctions still in place, the Volga-Dnepr cargo plane has been unable to leave Toronto for over a year.

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