Business: Strike-Bound Airlines

For the first time in history, two of the nation's four biggest airlines were downed by strikes—and a third was losing altitude fast. At Eastern Air Lines, 5,383 members of the International Association of Machinists walked out, along with 550 Eastern flight engineers. The Eastern strike and the walkout of machinists at Trans World Airlines (TIME, Dec. 1) shut down close to one-third of the nation's air transport system; 388 planes were grounded, and the 32,000 passengers they normally carry each day had to scramble to find other transportation. To make matters worse,...