🔗 Share this article

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

"These professionals are wearing thin," Sean Duffy informed Fox News on the weekend, as some flights were grounded on the Californian coast due to staffing shortages.

After the federal closure on 1 October, flight controllers, who are deemed essential workers, were told to keep doing their jobs uncompensated.

But a number have been missing, causing airports to stop or slow their plane traffic, which has added to delays caused by weather and other issues.

More than 3,000 US flights were delayed on the weekend, and Duffy said he expects the circumstances to deteriorate further.

"I am seeing the stress," Duffy remarked in an discussion on a weekend program, noting that he had met with several controllers to hear their concerns firsthand.

"They are pursuing second jobs, they're out there looking, 'Can I drive Uber, am I able to find another source of income to make ends meet?'" he continued.

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

The US government shutdown entered its 26th day on Sunday, making it the second most extended shutdown in the past.

Duffy has consistently cautioned that aviation regulators would reduce the number of planes in the sky if there is a deficit of safety personnel.

In his conversation, he would not answer directly when asked if it was safe to travel by air in the United States, and instead issued a direct appeal to controllers.

"I require my staff focused on the flight paths, not on the finances at home," the official said.

On that day, certain flights were grounded at Los Angeles International Airport due to staffing shortages, causing disruption at the fifth most active terminal in the country and one of the busiest in the world, as well as additional travel extending north to the city of Oakland.

The FAA alert went out at 8:45 AM in the morning on Sunday. Many flights were back on schedule by midday.

Flights at Newark Liberty International Airport, however, were postponed an average of over an hour due to staffing shortages, and the authority indicated Dallas Fort-Worth, the second most active airfield in the US, could experience difficulties from reduced staff later in the day.

The agency advised travelers in the state to check with carriers about revised flight schedules.

The issue 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 holiday, one of the busiest periods to travel by air in the US.

Pressure on American aviation helped end a federal closure in two thousand nineteen. Back then, the halt had entered its fifth week and disrupted airline operations, including pilot training.

It led a number of flight controllers to stay home on the same day on January 25, 2019, temporarily stopping movement at New York's LaGuardia airport.

That same day, Donald Trump, who at the time was in his first term as leader, consented to approve a temporary funding measure, effectively ending the federal closure after thirty-five days.