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American flight controllers are more and more looking for additional employment and calling in sick, as they continue to work unpaid during the federal closure, the transport chief has stated.

"The controllers are becoming strained," the official informed Fox News on the weekend, as some flights were grounded on the Californian coast due to personnel deficits.

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

But some have been missing, leading airports to stop or slow their plane traffic, which has added to delays caused by climate and additional factors.

Over three thousand American flights were postponed on the weekend, and Duffy said he expects the circumstances to deteriorate further.

"I am seeing the stress," Duffy said in an interview on a weekend program, adding that he had met with multiple professionals to listen to their concerns directly.

"They are pursuing second jobs, they're out there looking, 'Can I work for Uber, am I able to find another source of earnings to make ends meet?'" he added.

Duffy added that on Saturday twenty-two notifications at airports indicated travel would be delayed due to a shortage of employees - one of the highest since the closure started.

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

He has repeatedly warned that aviation regulators would reduce the number of aircraft in the sky if there is a shortage of safety personnel.

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

"I require my controllers focused on the airspace, not on the monetary matters at their households," Duffy stated.

On that day, some planes were grounded at LAX due to staffing shortages, causing disruption at the fifth-busiest airport in the nation and one of the busiest in the globe, as well as other flights stretching upward to the metropolis of Oakland.

The Federal Aviation Administration alert went out at 8:45 AM in the morning on the weekend. Numerous trips were back on schedule before noon.

Flights at Newark Airport, though, were delayed an average of 82 minutes due to staffing shortages, and the FAA said DFW, the second most active airport in the US, could encounter difficulties from low staffing later in the day.

The FAA warned passengers in California to consult carriers about updated departure times.

The situation comes ahead of Game 3 of the championship, which is scheduled in Los Angeles on Monday night, and about one month prior to the Thanksgiving holiday, among the peak times to travel by air in the US.

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

It prompted a number of air traffic controllers to remain absent on the same day on January 25, 2019, temporarily stopping travel at LaGuardia Airport in New York.

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