Israel's flag carrier said flight 318, a 16-year old Boeing (BA.N) 747-400 en route from London to Tel Aviv, was forced to return to Heathrow after 20 minutes when pilot Ilan Margalit felt one of the right side engines losing power as it reached 26,000 feet.

The plane landed safely and passengers were moved to hotels.

"At no stage was there a danger to passengers or the plane," El Al (ELAL.TA) said.

Margalit told the Haaretz daily that the incident was handled calmly and that the crew wasn't forced into taking extreme emergency measures.

"I didn't have to dive or do a loop," he was quoted as saying on the newspaper's website.

Pratt & Whitney is a division of United Technologies Corp (UTX.N). (Reporting by Steven Scheer; Editing by Hans-Juergen Peters)

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