02 July 2010 | Author: J. Morton News Editor
Search giant Google has waded in to the travel sector by acquiring ITA software, the designer of sophisticated programmes that track flight times and fares, it has been reported.
ITA Software is already employed by a number of internet travel services, including Orbitz and Google's search rival Bing Travel.
"What we're going to do is build new flight search tools that focus on end users," said Google CEO Eric Schmidt, maintaining that the company would honour "all existing agreements that ITA has with its partners."
The company paid $700 million (£460 million) for ITA Software, beating out proposals from Expedia and Kayak, big players in the sector in their own right. The acquirement by Google, however, could create a new - and sizeable - competitor in the industry.
Google, however, has explained that its purpose is not to sell airline tickets to the general public, but serve as an information resource.
"Their technology opens exciting possibilities for us to create new ways for users to more easily find flight information online, and we're looking forward to welcoming them to Google," Schmidt said.
Competitors have also chimed in with reservations about the deal, though not immediate.
"In the short term, it's not an issue, because Google said it's honouring existing agreements," a spokesman for Kayak told BBC News.
However, Robert Birge of Kayak said: "They have dominance on the general search side. When you couple that with ITA's airline relationships there is reason to be concerned."
The deal will likely undergo scrutiny in the offices of governmental regulators worldwide, as Google has recently undergone with numerous other ventures, most recently with their AdWords service in France.
The Massachusetts-based ITA Software was founded in 1996, and currently provides data feeds for many major online competitive travel search agents.
Google strikes into travel search territory with software company acquiral
Search giant Google has waded in to the travel sector by acquiring ITA software, the designer of sophisticated programmes that track flight times and fares, it has been reported.ITA Software is already employed by a number of internet travel services, including Orbitz and Google's search rival Bing Travel.
"What we're going to do is build new flight search tools that focus on end users," said Google CEO Eric Schmidt, maintaining that the company would honour "all existing agreements that ITA has with its partners."
The company paid $700 million (£460 million) for ITA Software, beating out proposals from Expedia and Kayak, big players in the sector in their own right. The acquirement by Google, however, could create a new - and sizeable - competitor in the industry.
Google, however, has explained that its purpose is not to sell airline tickets to the general public, but serve as an information resource.
"Their technology opens exciting possibilities for us to create new ways for users to more easily find flight information online, and we're looking forward to welcoming them to Google," Schmidt said.
Competitors have also chimed in with reservations about the deal, though not immediate.
"In the short term, it's not an issue, because Google said it's honouring existing agreements," a spokesman for Kayak told BBC News.
However, Robert Birge of Kayak said: "They have dominance on the general search side. When you couple that with ITA's airline relationships there is reason to be concerned."
The deal will likely undergo scrutiny in the offices of governmental regulators worldwide, as Google has recently undergone with numerous other ventures, most recently with their AdWords service in France.
The Massachusetts-based ITA Software was founded in 1996, and currently provides data feeds for many major online competitive travel search agents.
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