.aero: The Extension Reserved for Civil Aviation
.aero is the oldest extension on this list: it was delegated to the root zone on 21 December 2001, more than a decade before the 2012 application round. The IANA root zone entry classifies it as a sponsored top-level domain, with Societe Internationale de Telecommunications Aeronautique (SITA INC USA) as its sponsor. Sponsored status means the namespace is reserved for a defined professional community and registrations are checked.
That community is civil aviation: airlines, airports, aviation companies, associations, government agencies and qualified individuals. The process runs in an unusual order — your eligibility is verified first, and only then is the name registered. If you work outside aviation, the extension is closed to you, and the professional signal has to come from somewhere else. To see what is available, start with a domain name search.
.AERO Domain at a Glance
- Sponsoring organisation SITA (Societe Internationale de Telecommunications Aeronautique)
- Delegated to the root zone 21 December 2001
- Type Sponsored top-level domain (sTLD)
- Eligibility Membership of the civil aviation community is verified
- Document Requirement View required documents
- Character Length 1 - 63 characters
- Registration Period 1 - 10 years
- Name Server Count 2 - 10 servers
.aero Domain Prices — No Surprise Fees
Registration, transfer and renewal fees are listed separately. The renewal price can differ from the first-year price, so you see both up front.
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New Registration
$44.99 /year -
Transfer
$99.02 /year -
Renewal
$119.02 /year -
Restore
$139.90 -
Late Renewal
$23.80
Included With Every .aero Domain
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Free DNS management
Change A, MX, TXT and CNAME records yourself from the panel — no waiting on anyone when you move a site or mailbox.
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Domain lock
While the lock is on, nobody can move your domain to another registrar without your approval.
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Domain forwarding
Point the domain at your existing site, a campaign page or a social profile — at no extra cost.
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Free WHOIS privacy
Your name, address and phone stay out of public WHOIS records, which cuts down spam and scam calls.
.aero Domain Lifecycle
What happens day by day after it expires
Day 0 is the domain's expiry dateIn short: your .aero domain is put on Client Hold on its expiry date, so the site and e-mail stop that same day. You can still renew during the first 20 days, but from this point a late renewal fee is added on top of the renewal price. On day 20 the registration is deleted and until day 50 only a paid restore brings it back. Nothing at all can be done in the 5 days that follow, and on day 55 the name is open to anyone. There is exactly one way never to enter this chain: keep auto-renewal on.
Domain Is Available (Available)
A .aero address at this stage has not been taken yet, and it goes to whoever registers first. Check the name you have in mind — if it is free, it can be yours within minutes.
Domain Is Active (Active Period)
Once registration is complete, the domain is registered to you for the term you selected. You can renew at any point before it expires to keep it active, or switch on auto-renewal so you never have to watch the date.
Renewal Window (Client Hold)
On its expiry date your .aero domain is put on Client Hold: the site and e-mail go down that day, but the registration is still yours. A single renewal within these first 20 days brings everything back exactly as it was — nothing is lost. The only difference is that a $23.80 late renewal fee is now added to the renewal price; renewing before the expiry date avoids that fee entirely.
Redemption Period (Redemption / RGP)
On day 20 the registration is deleted and the 30-day redemption period that ICANN requires of every gTLD registry begins. The name is not released to anyone during this time; only you can take it back, by paying the restore fee, until day 50. That fee is far higher than a renewal — renewing on time is always the cheaper route.
Pending Delete (Pending Delete)
Once the redemption window closes too, the domain enters its final 5 days and there is no way back. Neither renewal nor restore works here; nobody — your registrar included — can return the name to you. The registry uses this window as the last hold before the name goes back into the pool.
Open to Anyone Again (Released)
On day 55 the name .aero returns to the pool and anyone can register it. Sought-after names are often gone within seconds, and there is no guaranteed way to get one back. Yet staying out of this timeline is entirely in your hands: leave auto-renewal on and the expiry date will never catch you off guard.
The timeline above is the schedule Atak Domain applies and publishes. The ICANN chart you will find elsewhere shows a renewal window of up to 45 days after expiry; ICANN's policy on expired registrations (section 2.2.1) lets registrars delete an expired domain at any time, provided they disclose their policy in advance. We apply that window as 20 days and publish it here in plain sight. Full text of the policy: ICANN Expired Registration Recovery Policy
.aero Domain Specifications and Registration Rules
Registration conditions, supported features and the registry's own timelines in a single table.
.aero Domain Registration
- Document Requirement View required documents
- Character Length 1 - 63 characters
- Registration Period 1 - 10 years
- Name Server Count 2 - 10 servers
.aero Domain Support
- IDN Support No
- Transfer Support Yes
- Late Renewal Support Yes
Documents Required for a .aero Domain
- Signature circular and its English translation. You can receive translation services from [Atak Tercüme](www.kocaelitercumeburosu.com) for the English version.
- An official document proving activity in the aviation sector and its English translation (e.g., an activity certificate or a section in the trade registry gazette indicating activities in the aviation sector).
Note: If you are facing issues with the application process, we can complete your application on your behalf through information.aero if you fill out this form.
Who Can Purchase a .aero Domain?
Companies and Institutions Engaged in Aviation ActivitiesCompanies and Institutions Related to Space Activities
Air Transport and Logistics Companies
Companies and Institutions for Air Safety, Medical Services, and Certification
Companies Engaged in Air Sports Activities
Airlines and Commercial Operators
Companies and Institutions Related to Airports
Companies Engaged in Aviation Distribution Systems
Aviation Education and Research
Companies and Institutions Associated with Aviation Industry Associations
Companies and Institutions Related to Aviation Media
Aviation Specialists
Aviation Suppliers and Service Providers
Business Aircraft Operators
Civil Aviation Companies
Government Institutions Associated with Aviation
Pilots
Frequently Asked Questions About .aero Domains
The questions people actually ask before registering — answered plainly.
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Registration is limited to members of the civil aviation community. That covers airlines, airports, companies active in aviation, associations, government agencies and qualified individuals. Organisations are expected to show that their activity is substantially focused on civil aviation. We could not reach the registry's own registration pages during research, so the rule is drawn from secondary sources — confirm exact terms with your registrar.
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The .aero ID is a membership identifier issued by SITA once it has verified your standing in the aviation community. The application may ask for evidence of eligibility: a corporate website, company documents or a pilot licence, for example. When verification completes, the ID is sent to you and you finish the domain order at your chosen registrar using it. The ID is a precondition of registration, not a formality settled afterwards.
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If you cannot meet the eligibility condition, you need an unrestricted extension instead. For an aviation-adjacent association, options such as .airforce carry no verified restriction — but note that this extension belongs to no government body and confers no professional verification. Where institutional trust is the priority, .com remains the most familiar address.
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Because it did not arrive on the same wave. Delegated in 2001, .aero predates by more than a decade the hundreds of extensions produced by the 2012 application round, and it operates under a sponsored structure. In sponsored extensions the namespace is run on behalf of a community and the rules follow that community's needs. That is a structural difference from open generic endings, and it shows up directly in how registration works.
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According to the project's registry data, this extension supports both DNSSEC and WHOIS privacy. DNSSEC signs DNS answers so that attempts to return a forged response become detectable, which carries weight in a field where operational security dominates. You can inspect what registration data is publicly visible with a whois search and manage the privacy setting through your registrar.
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