A globally standardized and predictable Internet addressing system for airports is a step closer, due to collaboration between the Airports Council International (ACI) and SITA. Airport operators worldwide are invited to register and use their 3 letter location identifier followed by .aero to help people quickly search the Internet for airport information. Over 115 airports, including Dublin (www.dub.aero), Las Vegas (www.las.aero), London City (www.lcy.aero), Prague (www.prg.aero) and Sydney (www.syd.aero) have already adopted this simple and memorable approach.

.aero is the first Internet domain to be dedicated to, and reserved for, a specific industry grouping and is managed by SITA on a not-for-profit basis for the benefit of the whole aviation community. The opportunity to adopt the new standards by the 1500 airports represented by ACI will further extend the value of the .aero domain. This announcement follows the agreement between SITA and IATA to reserve the two-character airline designator followed by .aero, to help travelers access airline information.

David Gamper, ACI Director of Facilitation & Technical/Safety, commented: "Anybody looking for airport information on the Internet today will quickly realize it is difficult and time consuming, mainly due to the variety of different domain names used. Our goal is to create a standardized global approach for accessing airport information over the Internet and ACI actively encourages airport operators to register and utilize .aero. We know that a vast number of frequent travelers, pilots and other aviation professionals worldwide effortlessly recognize airport codes - so this represents a great opportunity for airports to secure a short and instantly identifiable web-presence."

All .aero domain name holders are screened to validate they are members of the aviation community. This screening together with predictable domain name structures are the first steps towards inter-industry secure web-based transactions Airport operators can find more information how to register at www.information.aero.

Martin Gaskell, SITA's Director .aero, commented: "SITA is pleased that ACI has reinforced and expanded its support for .aero. This marks another important step to achieving our shared vision of secure, industry-to-industry communications that may also benefit frequent travelers. With the support of ACI and IATA we have established a solid platform from which industry representative groups for business aviation, aerospace and others can similarly expand. "xx.aero" for airlines; and "xxx.aero" for airports are easily recalled by industry professionals and frequent travelers, and are simple for airlines and airports to implement."

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