The new .aero Internet domain name exclusively reserved for the aviation community, and sponsored by air transport IT provider SITA, continues to lead the development of specialized Top Level Domain's (TLD's). SITA and IATA (International Air Transport Association) today announced that the world's airlines will be able to utilize their two-character airline designator code, followed by .aero, to help travelers quickly access their websites. This new standard will make web navigation easier for all travelers and in particular frequent flyers who are often aware of their flight's two character airline designator.

British Airways, Northwest Airlines and Cathay Pacific, have become the first airlines to use the new website naming strategy for .aero. Passengers can now search for information on the Internet by typing in BA.aero, NW.aero and CX.aero, respectively.

The new standard - Recommended Practice (RP) 1784 - was adopted globally by airlines at the IATA Joint Passengers Service conference held in New Orleans, U.S. on 16-18 October 2002, which paved the way for the standardization of these types of second level .aero domain names.

Martin Gaskell, Director for .aero at SITA, said: "Standardized naming conventions are a key part of the .aero initiative. We look forward to other airlines quickly embracing these new web addresses as they provide real benefits to frequent flyers; facilitate easier internal industry communications, and in the long term will speed up access to and from mobile data devices. We are delighted that airlines have endorsed the 'by aviation, for aviation' policies that we are developing within .aero. We anticipate other parts of the industry ecosystem adopting similar naming standards in the future."

RP1784 is the first of forthcoming .aero naming standards for the aviation industry with far reaching implications and many potential benefits. The structuring of domain names on the second and higher levels will make locating websites, applications, and addressing e-mails easier. This will also enable implicit verification of identity within the .aero domain as the use of .aero names is restricted to those involved in aviation.

For more information contact: .aero.enquiries@sita.aero