Who is Sumanth Doddapaneni? The IITian whose trip to Italy was ruined by Dubai airspace shutdown

Sarvam AI researcher's Italy trip derailed by Dubai airspace shutdown: Why has the airspace been blocked?
Amid heavy work schedules and fast-paced lifestyle, people often find long weekends and official holidays and getaways to relax their minds and spend some quality time with their loved ones, but what if a well-planned holiday is suddenly disrupted by a global flare-up.

That's the harsh reality hitting travellers worldwide right now, as escalating conflicts in the Middle East slam the brakes on flights crisscrossing continents. Beyond geopolitics, airspace closures have also come as personal heartbreaks, turning hard-earned savings into sunk costs and wanderlust into waiting rooms at airports.

Recently, one such IITian’s holiday plan to Italy was foiled by shut Dubai airspace.

Who is Sumanth Doddapaneni?

Sumanth Doddapaneni, a PhD scholar at IIT Madras and researcher at Sarvam AI, had his two-week solo trip to Italy scrapped due to massive airspace shutdowns in the Middle East.

Sumanth, who is based in Bengaluru and on a break from his PhD, shared his frustration on X. He had planned to spend a week booking after a year of grinding on LLM models at Sarvam AI. "Starting tomorrow I was gonna go on a two-week solo trip in Italy starting from Milan -> Bologna -> Florence -> Rome -> Naples -> Sorrento. Now I'm sad and in blr," he posted, with "blr" meaning Bengaluru.

He tried to stay positive, "On the bright side, I guess I'm alive!" But the financial hit stung. Replying to a commenter suggesting Japan, he said, “Abb tho saara paisa dubgaya na, I have nothing left to book (I’ve lost all my money)” (Sumanth Doddapaneni's X post). Another asked why Middle East issues hit Europe travel: “My flight is through Dubai, the airspace is closed,” he explained.

“I spent the last one week making bookings, after a year of working on the models, I thought this was my time for a vacation,” Sumanth added in his original post (Sumanth Doddapaneni's X post).

Why is the Dubai airspace shutdown?

These flying disruptions have come from US and Israeli strikes on Iran, prompting several countries to close their skies and halt flights.

According to aviation data from Cirium and published in an AFP report, around 4,218 flights were set to land in Middle Eastern countries on Saturday, with 966 (22.9%) cancelled, making it over 1,800 when counting departures too. Dubai International Airport (DXB) and Al Maktoum International Airport paused operations entirely, stranding hundreds.

Major carriers like Air France, Air India, Turkish Airlines, Norwegian, Air Algérie, and Lufthansa cancelled flights across the region. Flights connecting to key places linking Europe, Africa, and Asia came to a halt, messing up routes far beyond the Middle East. These closures disrupted countless Indians routing through Dubai. While Sumanth's story went viral on X, it highlights broader travel woes for all the other travellers too.