Air India has "unconditionally" taken back 13 of the 17 cabin crew members it had sacked recently for indiscipline and defying flight duty time limitation, allegedly following pressure from a section of the employee unions, AI sources said today. 

A decision to revoke their termination was taken after the Shiv Sena-backed breakaway faction of the All India Cabin Crew Association held a meeting with AI Chairman and Managing Director Rohit Nandan in New Delhi this afternoon, they said. 

"The management has taken back unconditionally all the 13 permanent in-flight staff, including a purser, whose services were terminated for gross indiscipline, due to pressure from the Shiv Sena-affiliated faction of the association," the sources told PTI here.

Air India officials were not available for comments.

Coming down heavily on its erring cabin crew, the loss -making national airline had sacked 16 air hostesses, four of them on contract, and a flight purser over a period of nine days in February-March for not following Flight Duty Time Limitation (FDTL) norms.