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US air traffic controllers are increasingly looking for second jobs and reporting ill, as they continue to work without pay amid the federal closure, the transportation secretary has stated.

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

After the government shut down on October 1st, air traffic controllers, who are considered critical staff, were told to keep doing their duties uncompensated.

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

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

"I am seeing the stress," Duffy remarked in an discussion on Sunday Morning Futures, noting that he had spoken to multiple professionals to listen to their worries firsthand.

"They're taking second jobs, they're out there searching, 'Can I drive Uber, am I able to find an alternative of earnings to cover expenses?'" he continued.

Duffy further mentioned that on Saturday twenty-two notifications at airfields said flights would be delayed due to a shortage of workers - among the peak since the shutdown began.

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

He has repeatedly warned that aviation regulators would reduce the quantity of aircraft in the sky if there is a shortage of safety personnel.

In his interview, he would not answer directly when asked if it was secure to fly in the US, and instead made a direct appeal to the professionals.

"I require my staff focused on the airspace, not on the finances at home," Duffy stated.

On Sunday, certain flights were grounded at Los Angeles International Airport due to staffing shortages, leading to interruption at the fifth-busiest airport in the country and among the most crowded in the globe, as well as other flights extending north to the metropolis of Oakland, California.

The FAA notice went out at 8:45 AM local time on the weekend. Numerous trips were operating normally by midday.

Travel at Newark Airport, however, were delayed an mean of 82 minutes due to staffing shortages, and the authority indicated Dallas Fort-Worth, the second-busiest airfield in the US, could experience difficulties from low staffing in the afternoon.

The FAA warned passengers in California to check with carriers about revised flight schedules.

The situation comes ahead of Game 3 of the championship, which is scheduled in LA on Monday night, and approximately four weeks prior to the Thanksgiving holiday, among the peak times to travel by air in the US.

Pressure on US air travel helped end a government shutdown in two thousand nineteen. Back then, the halt had reached its fifth week and affected airline operations, including pilot training.

It led several air traffic controllers to stay home on the same day on 25 January 2019, temporarily stopping travel at LaGuardia Airport in New York.

That same day, Donald Trump, who at the period was in his first term as president, agreed to sign a temporary funding measure, effectively ending the government shutdown after thirty-five days.