Stansted receives hijacked aircraft because it is the smallest of the capital's three airports, it is relatively isolated and it can keep the hijacked plane well away from the main terminal building.
Airport authorities at Stansted and police have built up a team trained to deal with such situations. Essex police undertake regular exercises simulating hijacking situations.
The police negotiators leading the talks successfully ended another hostage drama at the airport in August 1996. Det Chief Insp Win Bernard, 45, led eight hours of tense talks by a team of six, to end the hijacking of a Sudan Airways Airbus 310 by seven Iraqis fleeing Saddam Hussain. Negotiating mainly with the captain of the airliner over a radio link from the control tower, he managed to ensure that all 186 passengers and 13 crew got off safely.
The six hijackers were jailed at the Old Bailey for between five and nine years each but they were later cleared by the Court of Appeal in December 1998.
Professor John Potter, a leadership lecturer at the University of Exeter with expertise in hostage negotiations, said: "Britain has a reputation for being able to deal with these situations with calm and expertise. Doubtless a lot of places will have been relieved to see the aircraft head for Stansted. Whether that was as a result of direct recommendation from the authorities in those countries visited by the aircraft or the desire of the hijackers themselves is unclear, but it is a reputation which Britain has to accept."
The assistant chief constable of Essex, John Broughton, explained: "It is not the United Kingdom's policy to let [hijacked] aircraft take off again once landed."
The representative of the Afghan government in Europe, Gen Rahmatulla Safi, told reporters at Stansted that the hijackers, who are critics of his government, had made a big mistake coming to Stansted.
"The hijackers were foolish to come to Britain because the forces that they are dealing with are absolutely professional. We are leaving it to the British authorities," he said. "The hijackers are so stupid. The forces that are dealing with the hijackers are the most well-known in the whole world. I am fully confident in the British official people that are involved. They are highly educated, their standards are high. I hope they will do as much as they can. They are very professional."
Yesterday's negotiations with the hijackers were begun in English until interpreters were brought in. Police tried to keep the situation as calm as possible, negotiating quickly for a generator to be brought on board for air conditioning to work in the plane and by mid-afternoon food was taken on for the hostages. The softly, softly approach reaped some reward with the release of five hostages at about 11.30am, four of them from the same family, and the release of another three at 2.40pm.
Professor Paul Rogers, a terrorism expert at the department for peace studies at the University of Bradford, said: "The key aim is to achieve calm, to reassure the hijackers that nothing dramatic is going to happen and persuade them that there is plenty of time to achieve a negotiated settlement to the situation."
Despite the likely presence of crack police and special forces squads at Stansted, the prospect of armed intervention would only arise when the lives of the passengers and crew were directly threatened.
Prof Rogers added: "Everybody thinks of the likes of the SAS becoming involved but the truth is that armed intervention almost never happens - it is very much the last resort when it comes to a resolution.
"That only happens when the hijackers are killing or are likely to kill."
