The Professional Air Traffic Controllers Organization (PATCO) Strike of August 1981

•  In early 1981, PATCO called for "a reduced 32-hour work week, a $10,000 pay increase for all air-traffic controllers and a better benefits package for retirement."

• When negotiations with the Federal Aviation Administration stalled, about 13,000 PATCO members went on strike technically violating a 1955 law that banned strikes by government unions.
• President Regan issued a 48-hour return-to-work order, and fired more than 11,000 air traffic controllers who ignored it.
• The sweeping mass firing of federal employees slowed commercial air travel for months, although it did not cripple the system as the strikers had forecast.
• Some 7,000 flights across the country were canceled during the strike at the peak of the summer travel season.

Hurricane Katrina

•  Katrina is the name of the hurricane which hit the southern coast of the United States in late August 2005.
• 80% of New Orleans was flooded and the hurricane also brought a lot of damage and victims in the states of Alabama, Tennessee, Georgia, and Kentucky. About 1,200 people died as a direct result of the storm, and estimates for damages were "in excess of $200 billion," making Katrina one of the most economically costly natural disasters to strike the U.S."
• Immediately after the hurricane struck, hundreds of flights into New Orleans and other places were canceled or diverted, while some cruise ships were rerouted or didn’t sail.

• The hurricane caused major damage due to restriction in the oil production, destruction of the infrastructure on the highway along the shore of the Gulf of Mexico. Due to this, in some areas the price of fuel rose to $6 per gallon, which was much higher than the normal price of $2.5 per gallon before the hurricane
• Coastal communities that rely on tourism suffered from both loss of infrastructure and business.
• The tourism industry in New Orleans was particularly hard hit. Before Katrina, the city was among the most visited cities in the U.S. with over 10 million tourists who spent a total of $4.9 billion pre-hurricane. The number of tourists dropped to 3.7 million who spent $2.8 billion in 2006.