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American flight controllers are increasingly 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 Fox News on the weekend, as some flights were halted on the California shoreline due to staffing shortages.

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

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

More than three thousand US flights were delayed on Sunday, and Duffy said he anticipates the situation to deteriorate further.

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

"They're taking side jobs, they're out there searching, 'Should I work for Uber, am I able to find an alternative of earnings to cover expenses?'" he continued.

Duffy further mentioned that on Saturday 22 alerts at airfields indicated travel would be held up due to a lack of workers - one of the highest since the shutdown started.

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

He has repeatedly warned that flight authorities would slow down the quantity of planes in the air if there is a shortage of security staff.

In his interview, he would not answer straightforwardly when questioned if it was safe to travel by air in the US, and instead made a personal plea to controllers.

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

On that day, some planes were stopped at LAX due to staffing shortages, causing disruption at the fifth-busiest airport in the country and among the most crowded in the globe, as well as additional travel stretching upward to the metropolis of Oakland, California.

The FAA alert went out at 08:45 local time on Sunday. Numerous trips were operating normally before noon.

Travel at Newark Airport, however, were postponed an mean of 82 minutes due to staffing shortages, and the authority indicated Dallas Fort-Worth, the second-busiest airport in the country, could encounter problems from reduced staff later in the day.

The FAA warned passengers in California to consult airlines about revised departure times.

The situation comes ahead of Game 3 of the World Series, which is due to be played in Los Angeles on Monday night, and about one month prior to the Thanksgiving holiday, one of the busiest periods to fly in the US.

Pressure on American aviation contributed to ending a government shutdown in 2019. Back then, the shutdown had entered its fifth week and disrupted flight services, including pilot training.

It led a number of air traffic controllers to stay home on the identical date on January 25, 2019, briefly halting movement at New York's LaGuardia airport.

That same day, Donald Trump, who at the time was in his initial presidency as president, consented to approve a short-term spending bill, effectively ending the federal closure after 35 days.