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US air traffic controllers are increasingly looking for additional employment and reporting ill, as they remain on duty without pay amid the government shutdown, the transport chief has announced.

"These professionals are becoming strained," the official informed Fox News on Sunday, as certain aircraft were halted on the California shoreline due to staffing shortages.

After the government shut down on 1 October, flight controllers, who are deemed critical staff, were instructed to keep doing their jobs uncompensated.

But some have been missing, causing airports to stop or slow their plane traffic, which has exacerbated setbacks due to weather and other issues.

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

"I observe the pressure," he remarked in an discussion on Sunday Morning Futures, adding that he had met with multiple professionals to listen to their worries directly.

"They're taking side jobs, they're out there looking, 'Should I work for Uber, can I find an alternative of income to cover expenses?'" he added.

Duffy added that on the previous day 22 alerts at airports said flights would be held up due to a shortage of employees - one of the highest since the shutdown began.

The American federal closure reached its 26th day on Sunday, rendering it the second most extended halt in the past.

Duffy has consistently cautioned that flight authorities would slow down the quantity of aircraft in the air if there is a deficit of safety personnel.

In his conversation, he declined to respond straightforwardly when questioned if it was secure to fly in the US, and instead made a direct appeal to the professionals.

"I require my staff concentrating on the flight paths, not on the monetary matters at home," the official stated.

On Sunday, certain flights were stopped at LAX due to employee deficits, leading to interruption at the fifth most active terminal in the nation and among the most crowded in the globe, as well as other flights extending upward to the city of Oakland, California.

The FAA alert was issued at 08:45 local time on Sunday. Numerous trips were back on schedule before noon.

Travel at Newark Airport, though, were postponed an average of over an hour due to personnel issues, and the authority said Dallas Fort-Worth, the second-busiest airfield in the country, could experience problems from low staffing in the afternoon.

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

The situation comes ahead of Game 3 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.

Pressure on US air travel helped end a federal closure in 2019. At the time, the shutdown had reached its fifth week and disrupted flight services, including pilot training.

It led 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 time was in his first term as leader, consented to approve a short-term spending bill, bringing an end to the federal closure after 35 days.