New: .aero-domains as shortcuts

ICANN Registrar Secura https://www.domainregistry.de/aero.html)announces today, that it will give free support and consultation to airlines and airports, which register aero-domains, because they want to use the aero-domains as a shortcut and useful tool for passengers.

Cologne, Germany (PRWEB) October 3, 2003 --Domains are generally useful, but aero-domains are specially useful,because the most important target group of aero-domains,
the passengers, has an urgent and immediate need for information. This may be the need to know more about flight schedules or a parking lot in the airport.

Aero-domains can be used as a shortcut by airlines and airports. Airlines can register their two-character-IATA-Code as aero-domain. As you know, many Top Level Domains do not permit two-letter-domains or they are all taken as at .com.Two letter domain names are also not common at .aero. Dotaero made with the permission of ICANN an exclusive exemption for the airlines.

The IATA code is a condition to get the two-letter-aero-domain name.The two-letters aero-domains are very recommended by experts, as not only for a specialized target group,but also for the broad public such two character domains are a good advertising tool,as people easily remind such short domain names.

Airlines can use the two-character-aero domain name e.g. in order to print it at the tickets, to paint it at the airplains or e.g. for a special website about flight schedules or about frequent traveller programs and offers. Many frequent travellers know alreay the IATA code by heart and will therefore use a domain name with the IATA code. For example, a passenger needing to make a flight connection will be able to use their mobile phone to access, within seconds and with one link, the information about their flight simply by typing, for example, flights.ba.aero.

Following the adoption of over 5,000 .aero domain names by members of the aviation community, SITA has established an .aero initiative that will allow passengers to benefit from simplified access to critical online information regarding their travel arrangements. Currently passengers searching online must navigate through complex web sites and search engines before finding the information specific to their flight.

Implementation of ".aero shortcuts", would allow travelers, through the application of existing aviation industry codes in the context of .aero, to benefit from direct, and simple access, to information related to their airline travel.

SITA, the world leader in technology solutions for the air transport community, has completed the first round of consultation with industry players about these shortcuts". The findings are detailed in a white paper titled Simplifying Internet communications in the air transport
industry", which may be found at www.information.aero.

The white paper outlines the future directions of aviations own Internet domain .aero" and spells out the benefits for passengers and the aviation community alike. Beyond simplifying access for passengers, ".aero shortcuts" can be used by business aviation, industry staff and business partners alike to simplify intra-industry communications.

The ".aero shortcuts" rely on easy passenger recognition of commonly used industry codes. Airport and airline codes are readily recognized by frequent travelers, for example ba.aero for British Airways, and jfk.aero for Kennedy Airport. Already airlines and airports have endorsed the first naming conventions and a number of airlines and airports allow their passengers to access their favorite airline or airport simply by typing their airlinecode.aero" or airportcode.aero".

With the exclusive access that aviation has to its own top level domain, application of ".aero shortcuts" aims to provide fast and predictable access to operational information for airlines, airports and suppliers, and to allow immediate access to flight schedules, flight status, parking, ground transportation, or duty free information. As example, passengers will also be able to find parking information by just typing parking.gva.aero on their PDA.

According to SITAs Director Martin Gaskell: We have been very pleased with the cross industry participation and support for .aero and specifically for this new shortcut" initiative. Already we have seen web prototypes based on the ".aero shortcut" concept and the interest in
developing an operational pilot" system is high. Given the opportunity to structure .aero, we are seeking increased industry participation in developing this initiaitive."

Check Your Geneva Flight Status From Anywhere

A prototype service is being piloted from October 4 to November 7, 2003 around the time of ITU Telecom World 2003. The service allows you to check the status of any flight coming into or leaving from Geneva. You will be able to access the prototype service from the web browser of your mobile phone, PDA or PC, using one of the three options below.

Option 1
Type in your flight number, expressed as a .aero URL. Examples are:

http://BA723.aero or http://LX1751.aero. By using this option, you will directly access the information pertaining to the flight number entered.

Option 2
An airport pair is comprised of the IATA airport codes used to signify two specific city airports that have direct flights between each other. The airport codes for the two cities in a pair are attached by a hyphen. Examples are:
http://gva-zrh.aero, the .aero URL, which gives you information for all
flights between Geneva and Zürich .
http://gva-lhr.aero, the .aero URL, which gives you information for all flights between Geneva and London Heathrow.

Airport pairs will function when there is a flight scheduled between Geneva and the other city airport concerned.

Option 3
Enter http://gva.airport.aero. This last option will give you access to information regarding all flights from or to Geneva International Airport.

The future of aviation industry developments based on .aero depends highly on the feedback received from pilot users. It is the key for this particular prototype to be tested by wide range of users on as many different devices as possible.
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