Volga-Dnepr Airlines has prepared and sent an official notification to the Canadian authorities with an offer to settle the dispute over the arrested An-124-100 (RA-82078), which has been at Pearson International Airport in Toronto since February 27, 2022.
As previously reported, the airline cargo plane was on a humanitarian flight ordered by the Canadian government with more than 60 tons of COVID-19 test kits from China. The airliner landed in Toronto two hours before Canada circulated a newly issued NOTAM banning Russian airlines from using the country’s airspace, and the AN-124 was unable to leave Toronto after unloading.
Volga-Dnepr has sent an official notice informing Canada of the existence of a dispute between the company and the country over the illegal seizure of the An-124-100 freighter and inviting the country’s authorities to settle the dispute amicably in accordance with Article 9 of the agreement between the USSR and Canada on the promotion and mutual protection of investments dated November 20, 1989. Copies of the notice were sent to the Prime Minister of Canada, the Governor General of Canada, the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance of Canada, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Canada, the Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada, the Minister of Transportation of Canada and the Canadian Ambassador to the Russian Federation.
“If the dispute is not resolved within six months of Canada’s receipt of the notice, Volga-Dnepr Airlines will formally initiate arbitration proceedings. Volga-Dnepr remains open for negotiations with Canadian representatives to resolve the issue and return the aircraft,” a spokesperson for the airline said.
By April of this year, the airplane’s parking fees had exceeded $330,000, the Wall Street Journal reported in the spring. Over the course of a year, parking fees rose from $0.55 to $0.58 per minute. The airport authority would prefer that the plane leave the air harbor, but Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has no plans to lift restrictions on its departure. At the same time, Pearson Airport does not want to continue accumulating debt that will never be collected, as well as spending labor and material resources and using the airfield infrastructure, and something should be done about this situation, WSJ noted.
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