US airports hit by major flight delays and cancellations as long government shutdown drags on

Travellers across US airports continued on Monday to experience major flight delays and cancellations due to an uptick in absences from air traffic controllers caused by the government shutdown.

Nearly 13,000 air traffic controllers in the US have been working without pay since October, when the government shutdown began, but not all of them are willing to continue doing so.

According to the US regulator Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), with many air traffic controllers taking sick leave, it is becoming increasingly difficult to keep to the flight schedule.

"I just feel this is America, and you feel when you come to America that things will work properly, and so we're going to be here probably for about five hours now because we thought we had to check in early because of what's going on," one woman told the AP news agency at Houston's George Bush Airport.

"It's slightly disappointing," she lamented.

When did the shutdown begin?

The US government shutdown began on 1 October after US lawmakers could not agree on a budget to continue funding essential government services.

If no deal is reached by Tuesday evening, the shutdown will become the longest ever in US history, and analysts warn that the longer it lasts, the more chaos there will be at airports.

The government shutdown revolves around the debate over health policy - in particular, funding for the Affordable Care Act, which provides millions of Americans with government subsidies to buy health insurance. The scheme was introduced during Barack Obama's presidency and has undergone several improvements since then.

Democratic senators have demanded an extension of the health insurance tax credits as a condition of their support and have shown no sign of backing down. But Republicans argue that the issue can be addressed later.

Last week, the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) published a statement on its website saying that federal food aid known as SNAP will not be paid on 1 November, increasing the burden on families nationwide.

However, following decisions by two judges mandating that the government continue to operate the largest food assistance program in the country, the Trump administration said Monday that it will partially pay SNAP for November.