🔗 Share this article

US air traffic controllers are more and more looking for additional employment and calling in sick, as they continue to work unpaid during the federal closure, the transportation secretary has announced.

"The controllers are becoming strained," the official informed Fox News on the weekend, as certain aircraft were grounded on the California shoreline due to staffing shortages.

After the government shut down on October 1st, air traffic controllers, who are deemed essential workers, were instructed to keep doing their duties uncompensated.

But some have been absent, leading airports to halt or reduce their flight operations, which has exacerbated setbacks due to weather and additional factors.

More than three thousand American flights were postponed on Sunday, and Duffy stated he anticipates the circumstances to grow worse.

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

"They're taking second jobs, they're out there looking, 'Should I work for Uber, can I secure an alternative of income to make ends meet?'" he added.

Duffy further mentioned that on Saturday twenty-two notifications at airfields indicated travel would be held up due to a lack of employees - among the peak after the closure began.

The US government shutdown reached its twenty-sixth day on the weekend, rendering it the second-longest halt in the past.

Duffy has repeatedly warned that aviation regulators would reduce the number of planes in the sky if there is a deficit of safety personnel.

In his interview, he declined to respond directly when asked if it was safe to fly in the United States, and instead made a direct appeal to the professionals.

"I need my controllers focused on the airspace, not on the finances at home," Duffy said.

On Sunday, some planes were grounded at LAX due to staffing shortages, leading to disruption at the fifth most active terminal in the country and among the most crowded in the globe, as well as additional travel extending north to the metropolis of Oakland, California.

The Federal Aviation Administration alert went out at 8:45 AM in the morning on the weekend. Many flights were operating normally by midday.

Travel at Newark Airport, though, were delayed an mean of 82 minutes due to staffing shortages, and the FAA indicated Dallas Fort-Worth, the second-busiest airport in the US, could encounter difficulties from reduced staff in the afternoon.

The FAA warned passengers in California to consult airlines 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 approximately four weeks prior to the Thanksgiving break, among the peak periods to fly in the United States.

Strain on American aviation helped end a government shutdown in two thousand nineteen. At the time, the shutdown had entered its fifth week and affected flight services, including pilot training.

It led several air traffic controllers to remain absent on the same day on 25 January 2019, briefly halting movement at LaGuardia Airport in New York.

On that date, the former president, who at the period was in his first term as president, consented to approve a short-term spending bill, effectively ending the federal closure after thirty-five days.