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US air traffic controllers are more and more looking for second jobs and reporting ill, as they continue to work without pay amid the federal closure, the transport chief has announced.

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

After the government shut down on 1 October, flight controllers, who are considered essential workers, were told to continue performing their duties without pay.

But a number have been missing, causing terminals to stop or slow their flight operations, which has added to delays due to climate and additional factors.

More than 3,000 US flights were delayed on Sunday, and the secretary said he anticipates the circumstances to grow worse.

"I am seeing the pressure," he 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 work for Uber, can I find another source of income to cover expenses?'" he added.

Duffy further mentioned that on the previous day twenty-two notifications at airfields indicated travel would be held up due to a lack of employees - one of the highest after the shutdown began.

The American federal closure entered its 26th day on the weekend, making it the second-longest shutdown in the past.

Duffy has consistently cautioned that flight authorities would slow down the quantity of planes in the air if there is a deficit of security staff.

In his interview, he would not answer straightforwardly when asked if it was safe to travel by air in the United States, and instead made a direct appeal to controllers.

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

On Sunday, some planes were stopped at Los Angeles International Airport due to staffing shortages, leading to disruption at the fifth most active terminal in the country and one of the busiest in the globe, as well as other flights stretching north to the metropolis of Oakland.

The FAA alert went out at 08:45 local time on the weekend. Numerous trips were operating normally by midday.

Flights at Newark Airport, however, were delayed an average of over an hour due to personnel issues, and the authority indicated DFW, the second-busiest airfield in the country, could experience problems from reduced staff in the afternoon.

The FAA warned passengers in California to check with carriers about revised departure times.

The situation precedes the third match of the World Series, which is scheduled in Los Angeles on Monday night, and about one month prior to the Thanksgiving break, among the peak times to fly in the United States.

Pressure on US air travel contributed to ending a government shutdown in two thousand nineteen. At the time, the halt had entered its fifth week and disrupted flight services, including aviator instruction.

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

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