By David Shepardson
WASHINGTON (Reuters) -Air travel turmoil deepened with more than 1,660 flights delayed nationwide on Monday and more than 8,600 delays on Sunday, with air traffic controller absences surging amid a federal government shutdown now in its 27th day.
The Federal Aviation Administration cited staffing shortages affecting flights across the Southeast and at Newark Airport in New Jersey, while the FAA imposed a ground delay at Los Angeles International that delayed flights by an average of 25 minutes.
Southwest Airlines had 45%, or 2,000, of its flights delayed on Sunday, while American Airlines had nearly 1,200, or a third, of its flights delayed, according to FlightAware, a flight-tracking website. United Airlines had 24%, or 739, of its flights delayed and Delta Air Lines had 17%, or 610, of its flights delayed.
A U.S. Department of Transportation official said 44% of Sunday’s delays stemmed from controller absences — up sharply from the usual 5%.
Roughly 13,000 air traffic controllers and 50,000 Transportation Security Administration officers must work without pay and will miss their first full paycheck on Tuesday.
The mounting delays and cancellations are fueling public frustration and intensifying scrutiny of the shutdown’s impact, raising pressure on lawmakers to resolve the budget impasse.
(Reporting by David Shepardson; Editing by Howard Goller)
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