🔗 Share this article

US air traffic controllers are more and more seeking second jobs and calling in sick, as they remain on duty without pay amid the government shutdown, the transport chief has announced.

"The controllers are becoming strained," Sean Duffy told Fox News on Sunday, as some flights were halted on the California shoreline due to personnel deficits.

After the federal closure on 1 October, air traffic controllers, who are considered essential workers, were told to continue performing their jobs uncompensated.

But a number have been absent, leading terminals to halt or reduce their flight operations, which has added to setbacks caused by weather and additional factors.

More than three thousand US flights were postponed on the weekend, and the secretary said he expects the situation to grow worse.

"I observe the pressure," Duffy said in an interview on Sunday Morning Futures, noting that he had spoken to multiple professionals to listen to their worries firsthand.

"They're taking second jobs, they're out there searching, 'Can I work for Uber, am I able to find another source of income to cover expenses?'" he added.

The secretary added that on the previous day twenty-two notifications at airfields said flights would be delayed due to a shortage of workers - one of the highest since the shutdown started.

The US government shutdown reached its 26th day on the weekend, rendering it the second-longest shutdown in the past.

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

In his interview, he declined to respond straightforwardly when asked if it was secure to travel by air in the United States, and instead issued a direct appeal to controllers.

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

On Sunday, certain flights were stopped at Los Angeles International Airport due to employee deficits, leading to interruption at the fifth most active terminal in the country and among the most crowded in the globe, as well as additional travel stretching north to the metropolis of Oakland, California.

The FAA alert was issued at 08:45 in the morning on the weekend. Numerous trips were back on schedule by midday.

Flights at Newark Airport, though, were postponed an average of over an hour due to staffing shortages, and the FAA indicated Dallas Fort-Worth, the second-busiest airfield in the US, could experience difficulties from low staffing later in the day.

The FAA advised travelers in California to check with carriers about revised departure times.

The situation comes ahead of Game 3 of the World Series, which is due to be played in LA on Monday evening, and about one month before the Thanksgiving holiday, among the peak periods to fly in the US.

Strain on US air travel helped end a government shutdown in 2019. At the time, the halt had entered its fifth week and affected airline operations, including aviator instruction.

It led a number of flight controllers to remain absent on the same day on January 25, 2019, briefly halting movement at New York's LaGuardia airport.

That same day, the former president, who at the period was in his initial presidency as leader, agreed to sign a short-term spending bill, bringing an end to the federal closure after thirty-five days.