Amid the escalating Iran-Israel conflict, most airspaces throughout the Middle East have been closed. While airlines issued statements prioritising the safety of passengers and crew, the abrupt flight cancellations have disrupted travel and work plans for thousands.
One such instance involved Sumanth Doddapaneni, an Indian PhD scholar at IIT Madras and a researcher at Sarvam AI. Doddapaneni had planned a two-week solo trip to Italy, which has now been shelved.
‘I’m Sad’
The researcher shared his ordeal in a post on X . According to Sumanth, he planned the getaway after a year of intensive work on Large Language Models (LLMs) at Sarvam AI. However, the unexpected airspace closures proved costly. He mentioned that all his bookings were finalised, only for him to be forced to drop his plans at the last moment.
“I spent the last week making bookings; after a year of working on the models, I thought this was my time for a vacation,” Sumanth wrote. “Starting tomorrow, I was going to go on a 2-week solo trip in Italy, starting from Milan -> Bologna -> Florence -> Rome -> Naples -> Sorrento. Now I'm sad and in BLR [Bengaluru].”
Despite the setback, the IITian attempted to find a silver lining, adding, “On the bright side, I guess I'm alive!”
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In the comments section, he lamented the financial loss. “Abb tho saara paisa dubgaya na, I have nothing left to book (Now all the money is sunk/lost),” he replied to a user who suggested he fly to Japan instead. When asked why Middle East tensions affected his European travel, Sumanth explained, “My flight is through Dubai, and the airspace is closed.”
Flight Cancellations
The impact has been widespread. On Saturday alone, major airlines. including Air India, Air France, Turkish Airlines, and Lufthansa, announced extensive cancellations. According to aviation analytics firm Cirium, of the 4,218 flights scheduled to land in the Middle East that day, 966 (22.9 per cent) were cancelled. That figure rises to over 1,800 when accounting for outbound flights.