We heard a few months ago that Google is planning to launch an ITA integrated-flight search product. For background, the DOJ finally approved Google’s $700 million acquisition of airfare software company ITA in April, and Google officially closed the acquisition days later. The deal was being investigated as potentially being anti-competitive to the online travel search industry, as ITA’s software is used by many of Google’s rivals in travel search including Microsoft, Kayak, and Expedia. Today, Google has unveiled its flight search portal, Google Travel.
Basically, you enter your origin and your destination, dates, price parameters, durations and more. You can also set filters for for number of stops, airlines, connections, outbound and inbound times and more. → Read More
Google has just come close to winning approval from the U.S. Justice Department of its $700 million acquisition of travel software company ITA. Google has been embroiled in an investigation by the Justice Department over the search giant’s acquisition of the travel software company, which provides a management system for airfare pricing and shopping services. Despite intense scrutiny and opposition from competitors, the deal appears to be on its way to being approved, if Google complies with the DOJ’s proposed settlement. Read our coverage here for background on the investigation.
This settlement requires that Google develop and license travel software, to establish internal firewall procedures and to continue to fund software research and development in the industry. Interestingly, The DOJ also filed an antitrust lawsuit at the same time they filed a proposed settlement, in case Google doesn’t agree to the settlement terms. But according to this Google blog post, the search giant seems to be ready for the acquisition to close. The key takeaway is that if Google doesn’t settle, the DOJ says that the acquisition, as originally proposed, is anti-competitive. ed, is anti-competitive. → Read More
Hipmunk exists to disrupt the flight search experience online. Obviously, the key to this is to have the best and the most results. The Hipmunk results have already been solid. But they’re about to get better thanks to a key partnership.
Announced today at the PhoCusWright conference, Hipmunk has signed an agreement to use ITA Sofware to help power their airfare results. Specifically, they’ll use ITA’s QPX product to look up airfare pricing. Those results, combined with Hipmunk’s tech, should make the service even better. → Read More
In July, Google announced its $700 million acquisition of ITA Software, an essential provider of flight information to airlines, travel agencies, and online reservation systems. But the deal is reportedly being investigated by the U.S. Justice Department over antitrust concerns. When Google originally announced the acquisition, the company said it would use ITA’s data to create “new flight search tools.” With the deal still awaiting approval from the Justice Department, it looks like ITA took matters into their own hands and launched its its free airfare shopping mobile app, OnTheFly, for Android devices today.
Leveraging ITA’s airfare pricing and shopping technology, OnTheFly is a airfare comparison shopping engine that promises vast airport selection, an “intuitive travel date selector” and many search filters, including number of passengers, class of seat, type of seats, and more. You can search for domestic and international trips and the app will detect your location when choosing departure and arrival airports. The app will also include charts that compare between carriers, number of stops, travel dates, airports, plus total mileage and carbon emissions for each trip. → Read More
Last Thursday, Google placed a major $700 million bet on a new strategy. It announced an agreement to purchase ITA Software, a leading provider of flight information (fares, schedules, availability) to most of the key online travel sites, travel search engines, and airlines. ITA’s existing customers include Bing, Orbitz, Kayak, Expedia’s Hotwire, Continental, US Airways, American Airlines, and Southwest.
Google was careful to note that it would “honor all existing agreements.” Indeed, if Google wants the deal to pass regulatory antitrust scrutiny, one requirement will very likely be a prohibition, or at least a promise on Google’s part, not to cut off ITA’s flight data to the competition. This deal is not primarily about denying other travel search sites access to this data. Rather, it signals a much more subtle and profound strategy shift for Google—towards more customized search experiences in different categories, starting with travel.
In other words, it is moving in the same direction as Bing, which has built out vertical search across not only travel, but also health, shopping, local, and, most recently, entertainment. To put this deal in perspective, it is roughly the same size as the $750 million AdMob deal, which represents Google’s entry into mobile search. Drilling down into different categories of search could be just as important to Google as mobile search. → Read More
Google is now in the flight information business. The search giant just announced it is paying $700 million in cash for ITA Software, an essential provider of flight information to airlines, travel agencies, and online reservation systems.
Travel is a huge segment of search and online commerce. Purchasing ITA signals Google’s intention to build out its travel search in a major way. A consortium of rivals including Microsoft, Kayak, Expedia, and Travelport tried to counter Google’s offer last Spring because they all rely on ITA’s data and wanted to keep the company out of Google’s hands. ITA was reportedly holding out for $1 billion, but Google got the deal at the original $700 million price it put on the table. → Read More
Google is now in the flight information business. The search giant just announced it is paying $700 million in cash for ITA Software, an essential provider of flight information to airlines, travel agencies, and online reservation systems.
Travel is a huge segment of search and online commerce. Purchasing ITA signals Google’s intention to build out its travel search in a major way. A consortium of rivals including Microsoft, Kayak, Expedia, and Travelport tried to counter Google’s offer last Spring because they all rely on ITA’s data and wanted to keep the company out of Google’s hands. ITA was reportedly holding out for $1 billion, but Google got the deal at the original $700 million price it put on the table. → Read More
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