According to an initial report by the Air Accidents Investigation Branch (AAIB), the British Airways Boeing which crash-landed at London's Heathrow airport suffered double-engine failure during the approach.

“Initial indications from the interviews and Flight Recorder analyses show the flight and approach to have progressed normally until the aircraft was established on late finals for Runway 27L. At approximately 600 ft and 2 miles from touch down, the Autothrottle demanded an increase in thrust from the two engines but the engines did not respond,” AAIB wrote in the report.

When the engines did not respond, efforts by the crew to disconnect the Autothrottle and move the throttle lever manually also failed, the report noted. Investigators will now have to determine why the engines failed.

The wrecked Boeing remained in its final position across the end of the runway Friday as air accident investigators continued their painstaking examination.

Representatives from the Boeing manufacturers and Rolls-Royce engine makers were supporting the investigations.

The 136 passengers and 12 crew emerged largely unscathed from Thursday's dramatic crash-landing which left just 20 passengers with minor injuries.

Airport authorities said 113 flights were cancelled Friday following disruption caused by Thursday's accident.

The Boeing's captain, Peter Burkill, revealed that his co-pilot was at the controls when the plane came down just inside the airport's perimeter fence several hundred metres short of the runway.

Senior First Officer John Coward was in charge of "gliding" the aircraft at low altitude above housing and a busy perimeter road before the Boeing "belly-flopped" on to grass.

"Flying is about teamwork and we had an outstanding team on board," Burkill, 43, said in a short statement to the press at British Airways headquarters at Heathrow airport Friday.

Burkill also thanked the passengers for their "calmness and good sense during extremely unfamiliar circumstances."