The display on the wall in Air India's modern operations control centre within Terminal 3 at Delhi Airport shows an on-time rate of just 67% on the day of AIR International's visit one winter's day. Nine aircraft due to land had to be diverted to Mumbai early in the morning. "This rate is exceptionally bad, it's normally much better," staff members admitted. Staff can follow each Air India flight anywhere in real time on their displays and mitigate problems if there are delays. Fog in winter is normal in Delhi, but most other carriers delivered their passengers there on that morning, albeit with delays. Not so Air India. Despite now flying many long-haul routes with the Boeing 787, which joined its fleet in September 2012, bureaucracy remains a major obstacle to the airline's operations with the type.
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