SITA SC has signed an agreement with Afilias to provide registry services for .aero. The agreement was signed following a rigorous selection process conducted by SITA, and with the full involvement of the Dot Aero Council (DAC).

Under the terms of the agreement, Afilias will manage registry operations (including ensuring high availability and diverse DNS service) and will provide technical and administrative support.

Geneva, Switzerland – July 6, 2005 – Three years after the introduction of .aero, a sponsored top-level domain reserved exclusively for the world's aviation community, and in view of the approaching completion of the agreement with the current registry operator agreement, SITA SC, the sponsor of .aero, is seeking a new registry operator.

The current .aero registry operator agreement between SITA SC and SITA INC B.V. will expire on December 16, 2005.

.aero domain registrars can offer to their .aero customers a one stop shop for registration of .aero domain names.

On October 7, 2006 .aero the top level domain of aviation, will launch a new one step registration process for .aero domain names.

In the past, all customers had to pass a .aero eligibility verification process concluded by the issue of Membership ID from SITA before proceeding to register .aero domain names with a .aero registrar.