UPDATE: The Tribhuvan International Airport, which was closed for other aircraft at 3:29 pm for the emergency landing of the Nepal Airlines Corporation Airbus, reopened at 3:56 pm.

KATHMANDU: An Airbus 320 flight of the Nepal Airlines Corporation (NAC) made an emergency landing at Tribhuvan International Airport in Kathmandu on Monday afternoon.

According to TIA's Spokesperson Prem Nath Thakur, the TIA has been closed after NAC’s 9N-AKX flight from New Delhi made an emergency landing at around 3:40 pm.

There were 154 passengers and nine crew on board the aircraft, which was piloted by instructor captain Francois M Fenart and co-pilot Aswini Khadka.

TIA’s air traffic control tower sources claimed that the captain informed the tower about detection of smoke in the cockpit while airborne.

“The crew asked for permission to make an emergency landing while they were flying the Airbus at 11,000 feet,” a duty officer told THT Online.

NAC’s technicians and engineers have been inspecting the aircraft after disembarking all passengers, eyewitnesses said.

“TIA authorities have also put a fire vehicle and emergency squad on the standby,” the Spokesperson said.

It has been learned that some of the incoming flights have been put on hold while a few are being diverted.

Earlier, another A320 aircraft has been grounded at TIA on September 23 after it witnessed a problem in the auto-thrust system. “Now, NAC has had only Boeing 757 to operate in international destinations.”

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