SriLankan Airlines became one of the first airlines in the world to migrate to the new Internet domain ".aero" that has been created for the specific use of the aviation industry.

From June 1, 2003, SriLankan Airlines' corporate website changed from www.srilankan.lk to www.srilankan.aero. However, users would be able to log in to the www.srilankan.lk address for at least the next 12 months, until the www.srilankan.aero identity becomes well established. SriLankan will be among over 3000 names registered with the .aero suffix including, airlines, aviation industry news services, engineering and maintenance firms and service organisation.

"We have taken the initiative to migrate to .aero from the present country specific .lk in order to take advantage of the new global airline domain and to better reflect our status as an international company," said Nigel O'Shea, Head of IT at SriLankan Airlines.

All present e-mail addresses at SriLankan Airlines have also had .lk replaced with .aero, but could still be reached through .lk for the next 12 months.

"The .aero domain will provide a unique identity for airlines, differentiating from other Internet domain extensions such as .com (commercial), .net (network), or country specific domain such as .lk, .sg and .uk," said Kamal Nanayakkara, SriLankan's Senior Manager Network & Communication.

The .aero domain has been reserved worldwide for participants of the aviation industry, including airlines, aircraft manufacturers, and airline industry persons. The .aero domain is expected to make it easier for Internet users to find aviation-related websites on the Internet.

SriLankan Airlines IT Division formed a project team which planned, executed and tested the migration to the new domain over the last four months, reworking the airline's massive IT network.

The national carrier is also presently completing Phase II of its website development, which will add many new user-friendly features to www.srilankan.aero.