What to know about flights after the US nationwide ground stop

A nationwide ground stop ended around 8:15 p.m. ET, and some domestic flights have now departed from U.S. airports.

However, normalizing air traffic after the longest flight stoppage in 25 years will be slow, authorities warned.

Officials say the system is likely to be operating normally in time to handle the Thanksgiving travel rush.

Here’s what to know.

The Federal Aviation Administration said airplane departures could late Friday evening Eastern time. Passengers should contact their airlines for information about their flights, the FAA said.

The ripple effect from the stoppage could be felt for days, however.

More than 2,500 flights were canceled in the U.S. on Saturday and hundreds more were delayed, according to FlightAware, a website that tracks flight disruptions.

Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy warned Americans traveling that getting air traffic back to normal won't be quick.

International flights are being handled on a case-by-case basis, according to Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin.

San Francisco airport said that flights headed across the Pacific Ocean were cleared to leave the airport from Friday evening. That included flights destined for Hawaii and Asia.

Europe’s aviation agency suspended U.S.-bound departures at the request of the FAA from 5 p.m. Eastern on Friday until midnight.

Airlines are obligated to offer free rebooking on another flight for travelers who want to continue their journey, or a refund if their flight was canceled and they decide not to take the trip.

New technology being hooked up to the nation’s air traffic control system overloaded antiquated equipment, Trump administration officials said.

That caused “intermittent” communications and radar gaps, leading to the flight shutdown of more than four hours, according to officials.

Duffy suggested more disruptions might occur.

“We didn’t think we would have this kind of outage. We did,” he said.

The air traffic control modernization began last year after Congress approved $12.5 billion of funding. Duffy and the White House are pushing for $30 billion more to complete the work.

Microsoft said it had no indication that the ground stop was related to the service disruption that took Outlook and other services offline Thursday, a spokesperson for the company said.

Mullin said there is no indication the failure was related to a cyberattack, either.

“There was never any lives at risk,” Mullin added. “There was no flights at risk. FAA was able to handle it. We did it."

The ground stop was enacted “out of an abundance of caution,” he said.

Two travelers sleep in the baggage claim area at Washington Dulles International Airport, in Chantilly, Va., Friday, Nov. 13, 2026, after the Federal Aviation Administration grounded flights nationwide. (AP Photo/Cliff Owen)

Baggage waits for travelers to claim in at Washington Dulles International Airport, in Chantilly, Va., Friday, Nov. 13, 2026, after the Federal Aviation Administration grounded flights nationwide. (AP Photo/Cliff Owen)

A traveler sleeps at Washington Dulles International Airport, in Chantilly, Va., Friday, Nov. 13, 2026, after the Federal Aviation Administration grounded flights nationwide. (AP Photo/Cliff Owen)

A display board shows canceled flights to the U.S., in Frankfurt, Germany, Saturday, Nov. 14, 2026. (Florian Wiegand/dpa via AP)

ZAÑA, Peru (AP) — When Susana Baca, the Latin Grammy-winning Afro-Peruvian singer, serenaded Pope Leo XIV upon his arrival in Peru, it was a sign that the visit would provide an unparalleled spotlight on the culture that grew out of the African slave trade in this country.

Baca was also Peru’s first Black Cabinet minister, and she became a leading figure in the campaign to end the discrimination that has long made second-class citizens of Black Peruvians and Peru’s Indigenous peoples.

The U.S.-born Leo, whose own family tree includes enslaved people and slave owners, is expected to highlight Peru’s African-descended community when he visits the hub of Afro-Peruvian culture on Saturday in the city of Zaña.

Leo will lead a prayer meeting at the sanctuary of St. Turibius of Mogrovejo in Zaña, where he often visited to pray while he was bishop of nearby Chiclayo.

In the 16th century, Mogrovejo was the first archbishop of Lima. He defended the rights of Indigenous and enslaved people and was known for having confirmed St. Martin de Porres, the first Black saint of the Americas and the patron saint of racial harmony, social justice and people of multiracial backgrounds.

In his first encyclical, “Magnificent Humanity,” Leo made a sweeping apology for the role of past popes in legitimizing slavery and failing to condemn it for centuries. It was a reference to the series of 15th-century directives from the Vatican that authorized European sovereigns to conquer Africa and the Americas and enslave non-Christians.

“It is impossible not to feel deep sorrow when contemplating the immense suffering and humiliation endured by so many in stark contrast to their immeasurable dignity as persons infinitely loved by the Lord,” Leo wrote. “For this, in the name of the church, I sincerely ask for pardon.”

The estimated 100,000 African slaves brought to Peru after the arrival of Spanish conquistadores toiled in sugar plantations and silver mines, with some becoming urban artisans. At one point, they and their descendants were more than 40% of Lima’s population.

Blacks now are a small fraction of Peru's 35 million people. But they have struggled to advance in the more than 170 years since emancipation.

The national census in 2017 reported that 1,311 people residing in Zaña identify as Afro-Peruvian, while in the entire Lambayeque region, the figure was 78,639.

Baca told The Associated Press that she felt connected to the pope because of the importance he has placed in asking forgiveness for injustices.

“I believe that one of the most important things in the history of Afro-Peruvians is that we did not remain submerged despite our history of suffering," she said. “We are an Afro-Peruvian people who have learned to forgive.”

“And perhaps this is what connects me, in my conscience, to the pope. I feel that in all his homilies and teachings, the pope emphasizes the importance of asking for forgiveness and forgiving — that the injustices of many moments in history are less painful if we have the capacity to forgive and to be forgiven."

She said she chose to sing “Canción de Fe” (“Song of Faith”) and “Si me quitaran totalmente todo” (“If Everything Were Taken From Me”) to the pope because they embody the same notion of faith that Leo shares.

Zaña, a historic town of northern Peru located in the Chiclayo province, was recognized by UNESCO in 2017 as a “site of memory of slavery and African cultural heritage.” Peru's government says the recognition is the first of its kind granted to a Peruvian Afro-descendant community or comparable communities along South America's Pacific Coast.

“There are communities capable of withstanding any blow — even seven ‘El Niño’ weather phenomena, or the even harsher, more perverse blows dealt by the darkest side of humanity, such as slavery,” former Culture Minister Salvador del Solar said during a ceremony in Zaña’s main square.

“Communities like Zaña can truly say that no blow has ever been strong enough to break them completely; they continue to reaffirm their Afro-descendant identity with pride.”

The Afro-descendant community is celebrating the return of Leo, their former bishop, and is particularly proud of Baca’s performance before the first pope with Black roots.

“I’m so proud to see an Afro-Peruvian person singing to the pope, and to know that Black blood courses through his veins,” said Felipe Gutierrez, a local chef and a poet known as Frontado.

“That the pope has Afro-descendant blood is also a source of pride for Zaña because Zaña identifies with the Afros,” said Gutierrez, who writes and improvises the Peruvian art form known as “decimas.”

All four of Leo’s maternal great-grandparents were “free people of color” in Louisiana based on 19th-century census records. As part of the melting pot of French, Spanish, African and Native American cultures in Louisiana, the pope’s maternal ancestors would be considered Creole.

Zaña is home to an Afro-Peruvian museum, which features a rich collection of historical photographs, plantation carts and percussion musical instruments of African origin from Peru, Cuba and Brazil. It also stores documents of enslaved people and some of the shackles used to restrain them.

One of its walls has photos of Leo during visits to the town when he was bishop. There are also large framed photographs of Barack Obama, the first Black president of the United States, as well as South African anti-apartheid leader Nelson Mandela.

“We pay homage to them here in Zaña,” Gutierrez said during a recent visit to the museum, wearing a Chicago Bulls shirt with Michael Jordan’s iconic number 23 on the back. Chicago is where Leo was born.

“They show us how someone who is Black as we are in Zaña became a president and we’re proud because we all deserve the same rights," Gutierrez said. “Black, Indigenous, all of us are equal in the eyes of God.”

Winfield contributed from Chiclayo, Peru.

Associated Press religion coverage receives support through the AP’s collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content.

Pope Leo XIV is greeted by Peruvian singer Susana Baca during a meeting on the challenges and hopes for the future of the Peruvian people in the square outside Lima's cathedral, on the seventh day of his twelve-day apostolic journey to South America, Thursday, Nov. 12, 2026. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)

Pope Leo XIV is greeted by Peruvian singer Susana Baca during a meeting on the challenges and hopes for the future of the Peruvian people in the square outside Lima's cathedral, on the seventh day of his twelve-day apostolic journey to South America, Thursday, Nov. 12, 2026. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)

A figurine of a Black Virgin Mary is part of a Nativity scene displayed at the Afro-Peruvian Museum in Zaña, Peru, ahead of Pope Leo XIV's visit to the town to lead a prayer service at the Sanctuary of St. Turibius of Mogrovejo, Friday, Nov. 6, 2026. (AP Photo/Martin Mejia)

Carmen Cossio Aguilar smiles during a tour of the Afro-Peruvian Museum in Zaña, Peru, a hub of Afro-Peruvian culture, ahead of Pope Leo XIV's visit to lead a prayer service at the Sanctuary of St. Turibius of Mogrovejo, Friday, Nov. 6, 2026. (AP Photo/Martin Mejia)

Percussion and other musical instruments are displayed at the Afro-Peruvian Museum in Zaña, Peru, ahead of Pope Leo XIV's visit to the town to lead a prayer service at the Sanctuary of St. Turibius of Mogrovejo, Friday, Nov. 6, 2026. (AP Photo/Martin Mejia)

Pope Leo XIV arrives for a meeting with the university community at Santo Toribio de Mogrovejo Catholic University in Chiclayo, Peru, Friday, Nov. 13, 2026. (AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd)

Faithful wait for the arrival of Pope Leo XIV on the occasion of his meeting the university community at Santo Toribio de Mogrovejo Catholic University in Chiclayo, Peru', Friday, Nov. 13, 2026. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)

Pope Leo XIV meets the university community at Santo Toribio de Mogrovejo Catholic University in Chiclayo, Peru', on the eighth day of his twelve-day apostolic journey to South America, Friday, Nov. 13, 2026. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)

Pope Leo XIV waves to the faithful as he arrives for a meeting with the university community at Santo Toribio de Mogrovejo Catholic University in Chiclayo, Peru, Friday, Nov. 13, 2026. (AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd)

Pope Leo XIV delivers his message during his meeting with the university community at Santo Toribio de Mogrovejo Catholic University in Chiclayo, Peru', Friday, Nov. 13, 2026. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)