(MENAFN- Live Mint) As hundreds of flights are delayed and cancelled due to staff shortage amid the government shutdown which entered Day 9 today, October 9, the United States government has warned air traffic controllers that they would be dismissed who fail to show up for work. In a statement, US Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy called the absent employees“problem children,” saying the spike in employee absences is causing significant air disruptions.

Sean Duffy said,“If we have a continual small subset of controllers that don't show up to work, and they're the problem children ... if we have some on our staff that aren't dedicated like we need, we're going to let them go.” He continued,“I can't have people not showing up for work.”

But the transportation secretary also praised 90-95 per cent of controllers who are showing up daily despite not getting paid amid the US government shutdown. He said,“It's a small fraction of people who don't come to work that can create this massive disruption, and that's what you're seeing rippling through our skies today.”

Meanwhile, the National Air Traffic Controllers Association has urged its air controllers to keep working. The union warned workers that joining any protest or strike is against the law and could get them fired.“Participating in a job action could result in removal from federal service,” it said.

The warning from the Trump administration came as over more than 15,000 flights have faced delays since Monday, October 1, due to staffing shortage amid the shutdown.

The Federal Aviation Administration said in a notice that a number of airports are affected – including Houston, Nashville, Dallas, Chicago O'Hare and Newark. Southwest Airlines has delayed more than 500 flights and American Airlines over 400 flights, FlightAware data showed. More than 225 flights were delayed at Nashville, and more than 570 flights at Chicago O'Hare.

“Historically, there's about 5 per cent of delays that is attributed to staffing issues in our towers. Last couple days it has been 53 per cent,” Duffy said.

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Air traffic control staffing issues during this shutdown have emerged earlier than the last major halt to government funding in 2019, during US President Donald Trump's first term, leading to unexpected shortages in cities around the country.

In 2019, during a 35-day shutdown, the number of absences by controllers and TSA officers rose as workers missed paychecks, extending checkpoint wait times at some airports. Authorities were forced to slow air traffic in New York, which put pressure on lawmakers to quickly end the standoff.

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