Thank you for your questions.SITA has taken the lead
in presenting its proposal for the ".air" TLD which offers the maximum benefit to
all organizations operating within the world's air transport industry. Other industries
may also benefit from a specific TLD if they operate in a closely integrated manner
as the air transport industry has always done. Or alternatively they have the opportunity
to develop and then present their own valid arguments which they may then put forward
to ICANN for consideration.
The mandate received by SITA and the Bank of America
by their respective industries are quite different. For over 50 years SITA has operated
at the heart of two dynamic industries - those of air transport and telecommunications/IT.
SITA is owned and controlled by over 700 air transport companies and organizations
including all the major international and regional airlines in the world, air freight,
airports, aerospace industry manufacturers, air traffic authorities, CRSs and other
major air transport related organizations. Appendix C4 of the Sponsoring Organization
Proposal lists the 30 members of the SITA Board of Directors indicating clearly that
SITA is representative of the interests of the entire air transport industry. The
718 SITA members on 31 December 1999 are listed in the SITA Activity Report 1999
(not yet posted).
SITA and Equant jointly own SITA EQUANT SC, the company that
operates the network. SITA has derived a unique experience by the implementation
of the network but the use of the joint network is not related to the proposal put
forward to ICANN.
SITA is proposing to appoint SITA INC as Registry operator to
enable the new ".air" TLD to be implemented in the shortest time and with the lowest
technical risk. After 3 years the system functions will be stable and proven and
the Registry operator function will be open to tender. The decision to chose another
Registry operator will be taken by the Air Transport Community on the basis of the
offers received at the time.