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American flight controllers are more and more looking for second jobs and reporting ill, as they remain on duty without pay amid the government shutdown, the transport chief has stated.

"The controllers are wearing thin," Sean Duffy informed Fox News on the weekend, as some flights were grounded on the California shoreline due to staffing shortages.

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

But a number have been absent, causing airports to halt or reduce their plane traffic, which has added to delays caused by weather and additional factors.

Over 3,000 US flights were delayed on Sunday, and the secretary said he expects the circumstances to grow worse.

"I observe the pressure," Duffy remarked in an discussion on a weekend program, noting that he had met with multiple professionals to hear their concerns firsthand.

"They're taking second jobs, they're out there looking, 'Can I drive Uber, can I secure another source of earnings to cover expenses?'" he continued.

The secretary further mentioned that on the previous day 22 alerts at airports indicated travel would be delayed due to a shortage of employees - one of the highest after the shutdown began.

The American federal closure reached its 26th day on Sunday, making it the second most extended shutdown in the past.

Duffy has consistently cautioned that flight authorities would slow down the quantity of aircraft in the sky if there is a shortage of safety personnel.

In his conversation, he would not answer straightforwardly when asked if it was secure to travel by air in the United States, and instead made a direct appeal to the professionals.

"I require my controllers concentrating on the airspace, not on the monetary matters at their households," Duffy said.

On Sunday, certain flights were grounded at Los Angeles International Airport due to employee deficits, leading to interruption at the fifth-busiest airport in the country and one of the busiest in the globe, as well as additional travel stretching upward to the metropolis of Oakland, California.

The Federal Aviation Administration alert was issued at 08:45 local time on Sunday. Numerous trips were back on schedule by midday.

Travel at Newark Airport, though, were postponed an average of over an hour due to personnel issues, and the FAA said 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 the state to check with carriers about updated flight schedules.

The issue comes ahead of Game 3 of the World Series, which is scheduled in Los Angeles on Monday night, and about one month prior to the Thanksgiving break, one of the busiest periods to fly in the United States.

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

It prompted a number of air traffic controllers to stay home on the same day on January 25, 2019, temporarily stopping travel at New York's LaGuardia airport.

That same day, Donald Trump, who at the period was in his first term as president, agreed to sign a short-term spending bill, effectively ending the government shutdown after 35 days.