RuAviation

Swiss civil aviation service provider SITA has announced that it has closed access for Russian organisations to the international aviation top-level domain zone .aero, which is administered by SITA. The reason for this decision is unknown, SITA itself has not commented on its actions, according to the newspaper Izvestia.

Notification of the termination of registration and renewal of domains in this zone from November 10 sent out domain name registrar RuCenter – one of the authorised organizations in the Russian Federation, carrying out in the zone .aero registration of domain names. “Today we received a notification from the administrator of the .aero top-level domain. From 10 November 2023, SITA SC will stop accepting orders for registration and renewal of domain name registration in the .aero domain zone for customers from a number of countries, including the Russian Federation,” RuCenter said in a letter.

They explained that in order to preserve the performance of sites of Russian air transport companies while they are looking for solutions for the transition to other domain zones, RuCentre has urgently extended the validity of all its clients’ domains for one year at its own expense, and while the registration and renewal of domains in the .aero zone are possible, and everything works normally.

Access to the international industry domain zone .aero allowed civil aviation enterprises, such as airports (https://svx.aero – Koltsovo) to create and maintain their websites that display flight information, allow booking tickets and provide other services and facilities for air passengers. Lack of access to this zone will not affect the work of air transport companies, because thanks to the timely response of the Russian domain name registrar they will have a year to move their Internet resources to other domains.

Earlier it became known that after SITA and ARINC (USA), providers of air-to-ground communication services (ACARS), left Russia, the domestic companies Infocom-Avia and Azimut have created equipment and are implementing for Russian airlines a digital system of short text message transmission between aircraft and ground stations via air or satellite radio communication. SITA’s actions show that long-term co-operation with any company from the USA or Europe is a danger for Russian airlines and the safety of the aviation industry, as the formerly neutral Switzerland is completely dependent on “superior comrades” from Brussels and Washington, which once again confirms that the provider is not independent and unreliable.