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US air traffic controllers are more and more looking for additional employment and calling in sick, as they remain on duty without pay during the federal closure, the transport chief has announced.

"The controllers are wearing thin," Sean Duffy informed Fox News on the weekend, as certain aircraft were halted on the Californian coast due to staffing shortages.

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

But a number have been missing, causing terminals to stop or slow their plane traffic, which has exacerbated delays caused by climate and additional factors.

More than three thousand US flights were postponed on the weekend, and the secretary stated he expects the circumstances to grow worse.

"I am seeing the stress," Duffy said in an interview on Sunday Morning Futures, noting that he had met with multiple professionals to hear their worries directly.

"They are pursuing second jobs, they're out there looking, 'Can I drive Uber, can I secure an alternative of earnings to make ends meet?'" he added.

The secretary added that on Saturday 22 alerts at airfields indicated flights would be delayed due to a lack of employees - among the peak after the closure started.

The US government shutdown reached its twenty-sixth day on Sunday, rendering it the second-longest shutdown in history.

He has consistently cautioned that aviation regulators would reduce the quantity of aircraft in the air if there is a shortage of security staff.

In his conversation, he declined to respond directly when questioned if it was secure to travel by air in the US, and instead made a personal plea to the professionals.

"I need my controllers focused on the flight paths, not on the monetary matters at their households," the official said.

On that day, some planes were grounded at LAX due to employee deficits, leading to disruption at the fifth most active terminal in the country and among the most crowded in the world, as well as other flights extending upward to the city of Oakland.

The Federal Aviation Administration alert went out at 08:45 local time on the weekend. Numerous trips were back on schedule by midday.

Flights at Newark Airport, though, were postponed an average of over an hour due to staffing shortages, and the authority indicated DFW, the second-busiest airport in the country, could encounter difficulties from reduced staff later in the day.

The agency warned passengers in the state to check with airlines about updated flight schedules.

The issue comes ahead of the third match of the World Series, which is due to be played in LA on Monday evening, and approximately four weeks prior to the Thanksgiving break, among the peak periods to travel by air in the US.

Strain on American aviation helped end a federal closure in 2019. Back then, the shutdown had entered its fifth week and affected flight services, including pilot training.

It prompted several flight controllers to remain absent on the same day on January 25, 2019, briefly halting travel at LaGuardia Airport in New York.

On that date, the former president, who at the time was in his first term as leader, consented to approve a temporary funding measure, effectively ending the federal closure after thirty-five days.