.pilot
Is .pilot a real TLD? Who’s applying to run it?
Nobody has applied for .pilot in its own right, as of 7 October 2026. NextGEN TLDs GmbH named .pilot as a backup string for its .index application. ICANN deactivated it, because another applicant applied for the same string or named it as a backup. GoDaddy Registry named .pilot as a backup string for its .ship application. ICANN deactivated it, because another applicant applied for the same string or named it as a backup.
A tidy word for aviators and trial projects, but neither group needs it badly; expect a small, price-driven niche with little resale.
aviation businesses and individual aviators (flight schools, charter operators, drone pilots, pilot communities), plus companies wanting a short address for a pilot programme or trial launch
No applications recorded for this TLD yet.
Named on the ICANN gTLD application list, 7 October 2026 as a replacement (backup) string of the applicant's .ship application, shown as deactivated: another applicant applied for the same string or named it as a backup
Named on the ICANN gTLD application list, 7 October 2026 as a replacement (backup) string of the applicant's .index application, shown as deactivated: another applicant applied for the same string or named it as a backup
The 2012 applications making the most similar bet. Chosen by AI from every string in that round, without being told what happened to any of them.
Same bet: a licensed/credentialed occupational title sold as personal professional identity to salaried practitioners who are hired rather than found by consumers, so registrations come from individual pride-of-title rather than lead generation.
Same bet in a narrower pool: a short profession noun whose only natural registrant is a certified individual practitioner, which means the addressable market is bounded by how many people legally hold the title, not by any business category.
Same bet of a one-word occupation as personal-brand namespace for individuals who are employed through gatekeepers, though the title is self-declared rather than licensed and the pool is reputational rather than regulated.
What a .pilot domain is
.pilot is not a TLD yet. It is a string on our record of the ICANN 2026 new gTLD round, filed under Other. Nobody has applied for .pilot in its own right. It is named on ICANN’s list as part of an application for another string.
Is the .pilot domain extension real yet?
.pilot is not yet a domain extension you can register: nothing resolves under it, and no registrar sells names in it. Nobody has applied for it on the public record; the ICANN 2026 new gTLD round is the process that would decide whether it becomes one.
When can you buy a .pilot domain?
You can’t yet. ICANN publishes every applied-for string on Reveal Day, 7 October 2026 at 18:00 UTC. A .pilot name can only be registered after that, once the string is delegated and its registry opens. Last round's closest parallel to .pilot was .engineer, delegated on 4 June 2014.
Is .pilot a real TLD?
Not yet. .pilot is not in the DNS root, so nothing resolves under it. It’s here because ICANN’s list names .pilot as part of an application for another string. Every entry on this page links to its source.
“NA2631T-T26726 · Registry Services, LLC · replacement string of .ship · Deactivated NTG2671T-T62555 · NextGEN TLDs GmbH · replacement string of .index · Deactivated”ICANN
“NA2631T-T42564 · Registry Services, LLC · primary”ICANN
- Band chosen: 30-49 (usable but limited). The string carries two real meanings: an occupation (aviation pilots, flight training, charter, drone operators) and a business term (pilot programmes, trial launches, TV pilots). Both are legitimate, neither is a naming convention anyone currently needs; aviation businesses overwhelmingly identify on .com or country codes, and by analogy the sector-specific .aero has existed for many years without becoming the default identity for aviation operators (analogy, no figures asserted). Occupation-word TLDs such as .dentist or .attorney are the closest analogues and, by analogy, settled into modest, renewal-sensitive volumes rather than category standards. It is not in the 50-69 band because there is no category where a serious project would plausibly pick .pilot as its primary identity without explanation, and there is no visible aftermarket demand for the word as a suffix. It is not in the 10-29 band because the word is a real occupation and a common business noun with a brandable feel (several companies use 'Pilot' as a name), so demand is more than event-driven vanity and a slice of registrations would be genuine primary-use sites. Applicant facts on the record: two standard applications, both recorded as deactivated and both filed as replacement strings for other primaries (.ship and .index); treated neutrally and not used to discount the score, since delegation is assumed. Main market uncertainty: whether the 'pilot programme' usage (startups and enterprises launching trials at a .pilot address) becomes a repeatable pattern over the next 5 years or stays an occasional novelty; if it did, the string would push toward the top of the band.