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American flight controllers are increasingly seeking second jobs and calling in sick, as they remain on duty unpaid during the government shutdown, the transportation secretary has announced.

"These professionals are wearing thin," Sean Duffy told Fox News on the weekend, as some flights were halted on the California shoreline due to personnel deficits.

Following the federal closure on October 1st, air traffic controllers, who are considered essential workers, were told to keep doing their jobs uncompensated.

But some have been absent, causing terminals to stop or slow their plane traffic, which has added to delays due to weather and additional factors.

More than 3,000 American flights were postponed on the weekend, and the secretary said he anticipates the circumstances to grow worse.

"I am seeing the stress," he remarked in an interview on Sunday Morning Futures, noting that he had met with multiple professionals to hear their worries firsthand.

"They're taking side jobs, they're out there searching, 'Should I work for Uber, am I able to secure another source of earnings to cover expenses?'" he added.

The secretary further mentioned that on Saturday 22 alerts at airfields said travel would be delayed due to a shortage of employees - one of the highest after the shutdown began.

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

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

In his conversation, he declined to respond straightforwardly when asked if it was safe to travel by air in the US, and instead issued a personal plea to the professionals.

"I need my staff concentrating on the flight paths, not on the finances at their households," the official said.

On that day, certain flights were grounded at Los Angeles International Airport due to employee deficits, causing interruption 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 notice went out at 08:45 local time on Sunday. Numerous trips were back on schedule before noon.

Travel at Newark Airport, however, were delayed an mean of over an hour due to staffing shortages, and the FAA indicated Dallas Fort-Worth, the second-busiest airfield in the US, could experience problems from reduced staff later in the day.

The agency advised passengers in California to check with carriers about updated departure times.

The situation precedes Game 3 of the World Series, which is scheduled in Los Angeles on Monday evening, and about one month prior to the Thanksgiving holiday, one of the busiest times to travel by air in the US.

Pressure on American aviation contributed to ending a federal closure in two thousand nineteen. Back then, the halt had reached its fifth week and disrupted airline operations, including aviator instruction.

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

On that date, Donald Trump, who at the period was in his first term as leader, consented to approve a temporary funding measure, effectively ending the federal closure after 35 days.