Russian freight company Volga Dnepr has launched an unusual legal fight to reclaim one of its An-124 cargo planes from Canada and legal experts say it might just work. The aircraft was flown to Toronto from Anchorage loaded with COVID pandemic supplies the night Russia invaded Ukraine. Canada closed its airspace to Russian aircraft and the huge aircraft has been parked on the ramp at Pearson International Airport ever since. Earlier this year, Canada promised to sieze the plane and donate it to Ukraine but the transfer hasn’t yet occurred. The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation is reporting Volga-Dnepr may have found a trade agreement that will further complicate that process at the very least.
I think that’s the same aircraft we saw when my brother drove us past the back-forty at Pearson Int’l on a regrettably necessary mid-pandemic trip to Toronto. The more aircraft-knowledgeable members of the family said that it didn’t look like the conditions it was being stored under were good for it. If that’s the case, it may be a while before whoever ends up owning it can make use of it.