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American flight controllers are more and more looking for second jobs and reporting ill, as they continue to work unpaid amid the government shutdown, the transport chief has announced.

"The controllers are wearing thin," the official informed Fox News on the weekend, as certain aircraft were grounded on the Californian coast due to personnel deficits.

After the government shut down on October 1st, flight controllers, who are considered essential workers, were told to continue performing their duties without pay.

But some have been absent, leading airports to halt or reduce their plane traffic, which has exacerbated delays due to climate and other issues.

More than 3,000 US flights were postponed on Sunday, and the secretary stated he expects the circumstances to grow worse.

"I observe the pressure," Duffy remarked in an discussion on a weekend program, adding that he had spoken to multiple professionals to listen to their worries directly.

"They are pursuing side jobs, they're out there looking, 'Can I work for Uber, can I secure another source of earnings to cover expenses?'" he continued.

The secretary further mentioned that on the previous day twenty-two notifications at airfields said flights would be held up due to a lack of workers - among the peak after the shutdown started.

The US government shutdown entered its twenty-sixth day on Sunday, making it the second most extended shutdown in history.

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

In his conversation, he would not answer directly when asked if it was safe to travel by air in the US, and instead made a direct appeal to the professionals.

"I require my controllers concentrating on the flight paths, not on the finances at their households," Duffy said.

On Sunday, some planes were stopped at LAX due to staffing shortages, causing disruption at the fifth-busiest terminal in the nation and one of the busiest in the globe, as well as other flights extending upward to the metropolis of Oakland.

The FAA alert was issued at 08:45 local time on Sunday. Numerous trips were back on schedule before noon.

Flights at Newark Airport, however, were delayed an mean of over an hour due to staffing shortages, and the authority indicated DFW, the second-busiest airport in the US, could encounter difficulties from low staffing in the afternoon.

The agency advised passengers in the state to consult airlines about revised departure times.

The issue comes ahead of Game 3 of the World Series, which is due to be played in LA on Monday night, and about one month prior to the Thanksgiving break, among the peak periods to fly in the United States.

Pressure on US air travel helped end a government shutdown in 2019. Back then, the shutdown had entered its fifth week and affected flight services, including pilot training.

It prompted a number of flight controllers to remain absent on the identical date 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 first term as leader, consented to approve a short-term spending bill, effectively ending the federal closure after thirty-five days.