VOLGA-DNEPR cargo plane worth $90 million was impounded at Pearson Airport last month. Members of the Ukrainian community want it sold with the money going to help those suffering in the Ukraine.
There are calls for Canada to seize and sell a $90 million Russian cargo plane to help shell-shocked Ukrainians as they try to survive from constant bombardment.
Some members of the Ukrainian community in Toronto are demanding that Canadian authorities seize Russia’s largest cargo plane that has been grounded at Pearson Airport due to that country’s brutal attack on Ukraine.
THE RUSSIAN flag on the massive plane can be seen for miles at Pearson Airport. Staff photo.
The Antonov An-124 Volga-Dnepr has been impounded since February 28 when a ban on airspace against Russian aircraft was imposed by Canada and other NATO countries due to the deadly Russian attack on neighbouring Ukraine.
The freighter, which was the second largest cargo plane in the world, had flown to Pearson on February 27 with a load of COVID-19 tests from China when grounded due to the international sanctions.
The plane, which has flown missions to more than 100 countries, has been parked on Taxiway N with a large Russian flag visible on its tail. It can be seen from Silver Dart Road.
SOME OF the crew members of the grounded Antonov An-124 Volga-Dnepr aircraft. Some are still in Canada waiting to fly the plane home. Courtesy photo.
It has a crew of up to nine members who are staying in an airport area hotel so they can fly the jet home when sanctions are lifted and that can take a while. There are concerns that some of the crew may claim refugee status in Canada.
The megaplane, which first went into service in 1982 costs up to $90 million U.S. depending on the model. It is described as a large, strategic airlift, four-engined aircraft that was designed in the 1980s by the Antonov design bureau in Ukraine, then part of the Soviet Union.
The plane is listed as the world’s heaviest gross weight production airplane and heaviest operating cargo aircraft, only behind its larger brother, the Antonov An-225 Mriya, the largest cargo plane in service that was bombed on the start of the Russian war with Ukraine.
UKRAINIANS in Canada want the aircraft seized and sold with the money going back to help those suffering or to rebuild Ukraine.
Volga-Dnepr Airlines operates 11 An-124s, with three now in service.
Canadian government officials said the plane will remain grounded until NATO lifts an airspace ban against Russia. The company also has to pay for parking costs at the airport.
Members of the Canadian Ukrainian community have been asking for the $90 million U.S. craft to be seized since Russia has illegally launched a deadly war against Ukraine and sanctions are in place.
Some community leaders in Etobicoke are asking for the aircraft to be resold with all funds going to help the more than two million refugees and rebuilding of Ukraine.
“Seize and resell that aircraft right now,” one man said. “Give some of the money to the people who are getting shelled and are suffering.”
Volga-Dnepr officials said they have been working to secure the aircraft’s return. The company said in a statement that it is engaging in the “settlement of all formalities to be able to fly to its home base.”
The huge Antonov-124-100 has two loading entrances, at the nose and tail of the aircraft, both equipped with expanding loading ramps. For loading of non-standard cargo the cabin is equipped with two electric winches of three tonnes traction each and four electric hoists of carrying capacity up to 30 tonnes.