Commercial flights are to continue in the US even as the country's military tracks what it said is a Chinese spy balloon hovering above Montana, a state where the US stores nuclear weapons.
"The balloon is currently travelling at an altitude well above commercial air traffic, and does not present a military or physical threat to people on the ground," Pentagon spokesman Pat Ryder told media during a late evening briefing on February 2.
"We are confident that this high-altitude surveillance balloon belongs to the PRC [People's Republic of China]", Ryder said, adding the balloon entered US airspace "a couple of days ago".
"Does it pose a threat to civilian aviation? Our assessment is it does not," he added.
On the afternoon of February 3, the Chinese government said the device is a weather balloon that had been blown off course.