Air India's delays can be very large.
Apart from their reputation of grubby and old planes, similar cabin crew, and a profusion of screaming kids.
They are not massively cheaper for no reason.
One year Emirates were over-booked and offered us a free flight the following year if we switched to Air India.
We thought about it, a very large combined sum............ and refused. The flight we would have been on reached Bombay 15 hours late.
In view of your IOM journey, it might be an idea to have a "plan B" in place?