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US air traffic controllers are more and more looking for additional employment and reporting ill, as they continue to work unpaid during the federal closure, the transport chief has announced.

"These professionals are wearing thin," Sean Duffy informed a news outlet on Sunday, as certain aircraft were grounded on the Californian coast due to staffing shortages.

After the government shut down on October 1st, air traffic controllers, who are considered critical staff, were instructed to keep doing their jobs without pay.

But some have been absent, leading terminals to stop or slow their flight operations, which has exacerbated setbacks due to weather and other issues.

Over 3,000 American flights were postponed on Sunday, and the secretary said he anticipates the circumstances to grow worse.

"I observe the stress," Duffy said in an interview on Sunday Morning Futures, adding that he had spoken to several controllers to listen to their worries firsthand.

"They are pursuing second jobs, they're out there searching, 'Can I drive Uber, am I able to find an alternative of income to make ends meet?'" he added.

The secretary added that on the previous day 22 alerts at airfields said flights would be held up due to a lack of employees - among the peak since the closure started.

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

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

In his interview, he would not answer directly when questioned 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 flight paths, not on the monetary matters at home," the official stated.

On Sunday, some planes were grounded at LAX due to employee deficits, causing interruption at the fifth most active airport in the country and among the most crowded in the world, as well as other flights stretching north to the city of Oakland, California.

The Federal Aviation Administration notice was issued at 08:45 local time on the weekend. Many flights were operating normally by midday.

Flights at Newark Airport, though, were delayed an mean of over an hour due to personnel issues, and the authority said Dallas Fort-Worth, the second most active airfield in the US, could encounter difficulties from low staffing in the afternoon.

The agency advised travelers in the state to check with airlines about updated flight schedules.

The issue precedes the third match of the championship, which is due to be played in LA on Monday night, and approximately four weeks prior to the Thanksgiving holiday, among the peak times to travel by air in the United States.

Strain on American aviation helped end a federal closure in two thousand nineteen. Back then, the shutdown had reached its fifth week and disrupted airline operations, including aviator instruction.

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

That same day, the former president, who at the time was in his initial presidency as president, agreed to sign a temporary funding measure, bringing an end to the government shutdown after 35 days.