🔗 Share this article

American flight controllers are more and more looking for additional employment and calling in sick, as they remain on duty unpaid amid the government shutdown, the transport chief has stated.

"The controllers are wearing thin," Sean Duffy told a news outlet on Sunday, as some flights were halted on the California shoreline due to staffing shortages.

Following the government shut down on October 1st, flight controllers, who are considered critical staff, were instructed to continue performing their jobs uncompensated.

But a number have been missing, leading terminals to stop or slow their plane traffic, which has exacerbated delays due to weather and other issues.

More than three thousand US flights were delayed on Sunday, and Duffy said he anticipates the circumstances to grow worse.

"I observe the stress," he said in an discussion on Sunday Morning Futures, adding that he had spoken to multiple professionals to hear their worries directly.

"They are pursuing second jobs, they're out there searching, 'Should I work for Uber, can I find another source of earnings to make ends meet?'" he added.

Duffy added that on Saturday twenty-two notifications at airfields said travel would be held up due to a shortage of workers - among the peak after the shutdown began.

The American federal closure reached its twenty-sixth day on the weekend, making it the second-longest halt in history.

Duffy has repeatedly warned that flight authorities would slow down the quantity of planes in the sky if there is a deficit of security staff.

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

"I need my controllers focused on the airspace, not on the finances at home," Duffy said.

On that day, certain flights were stopped at Los Angeles International Airport due to employee deficits, leading to disruption at the fifth most active airport in the country and one of the busiest in the globe, as well as additional travel stretching north to the metropolis of Oakland, California.

The Federal Aviation Administration alert was issued at 8:45 AM in the morning on Sunday. Numerous trips were back on schedule before noon.

Travel at Newark Liberty International Airport, however, were postponed an mean of 82 minutes due to personnel issues, and the FAA said DFW, the second-busiest airport in the US, could encounter problems from low staffing later in the day.

The FAA warned passengers in California to consult airlines about updated flight schedules.

The situation comes ahead of Game 3 of the World Series, which is scheduled 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 United States.

Strain on US air travel contributed to ending a government shutdown in 2019. Back then, the halt had reached its fifth week and disrupted flight services, including aviator instruction.

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

That same day, the former president, who at the period was in his first term as president, consented to approve a short-term spending bill, effectively ending the government shutdown after thirty-five days.