GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – 9th October 2003 – Travellers using Geneva International Airport are the first to be offered the use of a new prototype web-service to check their flight status. The pilot programme is timed to take place throughout the prestigious ITU Telecom World 2003, 12th-18th October.

Jean-Pierre Jobin, Director General, Geneva International Airport, comments; "This is the first trial of the new .aero shortcuts anywhere in the world. We hope that all travelers using our airport will find the service a useful and rapid way to check the latest departure and arrival information. It is pleasing that we can also offer this service, especially for the large numbers of IT literate people expected to attend the ITU Telecom World 2003 event."

The pilot service, available from 4th October until 7th November, for all flights to and from Geneva, uses new methods of presenting existing flight information based on recognizable aviation conventions and the aviation top level domain .aero. Operated via a web-browser enabled mobile telephone, PDA or PC, three service options are available:

Enter the flight number, followed by .aero. For example, http://BA723.aero for the status of the British Airways flight from Geneva to London or http://LX1751.aero for information about the Swiss International Air Lines flight from Rome to Geneva.

Enter the three-letter airport code for Geneva (GVA), followed by the code for any other airport, to find out about direct flights to or from Geneva. For example http://gva-zrh.aero for flights between Geneva and Zurich.

Or enter http://gva.airport.aero for details of all flights from or to Geneva International Airport.

The trial is a result of close collaboration between Geneva International Airport (http://www.gva.aero) and SITA (http://www.sita.aero), the IT and telecommunications services organization owned by the air transport community. SITA sponsors and maintains the .aero domain structure on a not-for-profit basis, with support from major industry associations.

David Gamper, Director, Facilitation and Technical/Safety of Airports Council International (ACI), the industry association representing airports which is officially partnering the .aero initiative, states: "This development is important for airports. It helps passengers because they can obtain real-time updates on flights when they wish, rather than only when a message is sent to them. This is a very cost-effective way for airports and airlines to provide improved customer service using the .aero domain in a novel way."

Marie Zitkova, SITA's Head of .aero, added: "This trial, which demonstrates the use of a new naming convention, brings us closer to realizing our vision of the vast potential of the .aero domain. It also illustrates the aviation community's ability to keep innovating, and to adopt new technologies to improve services for travelers at a low cost".

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