The pilots of a Malaysia Airlines flight from Kuala Lumpur had evaded a collision earlier this week as it prepared to land at London's Heathrow Airport.

Responding to the incident reported by several UK news sites, Malaysia Airlines confirmed the pilots had followed their assigned heading and all standard operating procedures (SOP) for such situations.

In a statement, it said flight MH4 was preparing to land at Heathrow Airport on Oct 23 when the pilots were informed by air traffic controllers (ATC) that the runway was still occupied by another aircraft.

MH4 was then instructed to commence a go-around and given an assigned heading towards the north of the airfield which would place the aircraft at the base position for Runway 27R.

"The pilots in charge followed SOP for such instances and gave ATC a read-back to the assigned heading.

"Further, no traffic alert and collision avoidance system was triggered in the cockpit," it said.

According to the statement, the pilots had complied with instructions from the ATC to divert the plane in a different direction. 

"Safety is of utmost importance to Malaysia Airlines, and all our pilots go through very strict and comprehensive training," Malaysia Airlines said.

As part of its training process, MAS said all its pilots were required to complete 4,500 hours flight time before being accorded captain status.

According to UK news reports, the Airbus A350-900 had evaded a collision with a Virgin Atlantic Boeing 787 Dreamliner (flight code VS251) from Shanghai as it headed towards Runway 27 at London Heathrow.

Both planes were reportedly at 3,400ft when controllers were heard issuing instructions for MH4 to turn off its present heading.

Aviation news site Simple Flying said the aircrafts had come within three miles of each other and estimated that both planes were only 35 seconds short of an impending collision. 

It also quoted a Virgin Atlantic spokesperson, who told UK Aviation News that the airline was aware that an aircraft came within three miles of the VS251 and that it was "working with the relevant authorities to understand how this could have happened".

Both planes were able to make safe landings at the airport, with their crews expected to file reports to the UK AirProx Board which assesses air proximity incidents in the interests of enhancing air safety.