🔗 Share this article

US air traffic controllers are more and more looking for second jobs and reporting ill, as they remain on duty unpaid amid the federal closure, the transport chief has announced.

"The controllers are wearing thin," the official informed Fox News on the weekend, as some flights were halted on the California shoreline due to personnel deficits.

After the government shut down on 1 October, flight controllers, who are deemed critical staff, were instructed to keep doing their duties uncompensated.

But a number have been missing, leading airports to stop or slow their plane traffic, which has added to delays due to weather and additional factors.

Over three thousand US flights were delayed on Sunday, and the secretary said he anticipates the circumstances to grow worse.

"I observe the stress," Duffy said in an discussion on a weekend program, noting that he had spoken to multiple professionals to hear their concerns firsthand.

"They are pursuing side jobs, they're out there searching, 'Can I drive Uber, am I able to find an alternative of earnings to cover expenses?'" he added.

The secretary added that on the previous day twenty-two notifications at airports said travel would be delayed due to a lack of workers - among the peak since the closure began.

The American federal closure reached its twenty-sixth day on Sunday, rendering it the second most extended halt in history.

Duffy has repeatedly warned that aviation regulators would reduce the number of planes in the sky if there is a deficit of security staff.

In his interview, he would not answer directly when asked if it was safe to fly in the United States, and instead made a personal plea to controllers.

"I require my controllers focused on the flight paths, not on the monetary matters at their households," the official stated.

On that day, certain flights were grounded at LAX due to staffing shortages, causing disruption at the fifth-busiest airport in the nation and among the most crowded in the globe, as well as additional travel extending north to the metropolis of Oakland, California.

The FAA alert was issued at 08:45 in the morning on Sunday. Many flights were operating normally before noon.

Travel at Newark Airport, though, were delayed an average of over an hour due to personnel issues, and the FAA said Dallas Fort-Worth, the second-busiest airfield in the US, could encounter difficulties from low staffing in the afternoon.

The agency warned passengers in California to consult carriers about revised flight schedules.

The issue precedes the third match of the World Series, which is due to be played in Los Angeles on Monday night, and approximately four weeks before the Thanksgiving break, one of the busiest times to travel by air in the US.

Pressure on American aviation contributed to ending a government shutdown in 2019. At the time, the shutdown had entered its fifth week and affected airline operations, including aviator instruction.

It prompted a number of air traffic controllers to remain absent on the same day on 25 January 2019, temporarily stopping movement at New York's LaGuardia airport.

That same day, Donald Trump, who at the time was in his initial presidency as president, consented to approve a short-term spending bill, bringing an end to the government shutdown after 35 days.