🔗 Share this article

American flight controllers are more and more looking for additional employment and calling in sick, as they remain on duty unpaid during the federal closure, the transportation secretary has stated.

"The controllers are wearing thin," Sean Duffy told a news outlet on the weekend, as some flights were halted on the Californian coast due to personnel deficits.

Following the federal closure on October 1st, flight controllers, who are deemed critical staff, were instructed to keep doing their jobs without pay.

But some have been missing, leading airports to stop or slow their flight operations, which has exacerbated delays caused by weather and additional factors.

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

"I am seeing the stress," he said in an interview on Sunday Morning Futures, adding that he had spoken to several controllers to hear their worries directly.

"They are pursuing second jobs, they're out there searching, 'Can I drive Uber, can I find another source of earnings to make ends meet?'" he added.

Duffy added that on Saturday twenty-two notifications at airfields indicated flights would be delayed due to a shortage of employees - among the peak since the shutdown started.

The American federal closure entered its twenty-sixth day on Sunday, rendering it the second most extended halt in the past.

He has repeatedly warned that flight authorities would reduce the quantity of aircraft in the air if there is a shortage of safety personnel.

In his conversation, he declined to respond straightforwardly when asked if it was safe to fly in the United States, and instead made a personal plea to the professionals.

"I need my controllers concentrating on the airspace, not on the finances at their households," the official said.

On Sunday, some planes were grounded at LAX due to staffing shortages, causing interruption at the fifth-busiest airport in the nation and among the most crowded in the globe, as well as other flights stretching north to the metropolis of Oakland.

The Federal Aviation Administration alert went out at 8:45 AM local time on Sunday. Numerous trips were back on schedule by midday.

Flights at Newark Liberty International Airport, however, were postponed an mean of over an hour due to personnel issues, and the authority indicated Dallas Fort-Worth, the second most active airport in the US, could encounter difficulties from low staffing later in the day.

The agency warned travelers in the state to consult airlines about updated departure times.

The issue precedes 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 times to fly in the United States.

Strain on American aviation helped end a government shutdown in 2019. Back then, the shutdown had reached its fifth week and disrupted airline operations, including aviator instruction.

It prompted several air traffic controllers to remain absent on the identical date on January 25, 2019, temporarily stopping travel at New York's LaGuardia airport.

On that date, Donald Trump, who at the time was in his initial presidency as leader, agreed to sign a short-term spending bill, effectively ending the government shutdown after 35 days.