Now you’re thinking “why the hell am I talking about Google buying yet another company?”
Well this is important – as it’s the engine a lot us use to get the base fares, tax breakdowns and fare comparison tools. In addition from a commercial viewpoint, it’s the software that drives some airlines booking engines (Alaska Airlines, Alitalia, Continental and US Airways) as well as a few price comparison engines (such as Bing Travel, CheapTickets, Kayak.com, and Orbitz)
Google is ponying up $700m for the privilege of buying ITA software, in an effort to go beyond Google’s normal search offerings
The takeover is subject to regulatory examination (which could be significant when the word Google is involved), with no timescales noted.
It’ll be interesting to see how this pans out – least of all how some of ITA’s customers feel about being “Googlised”
Google Source: http://www.google.com/press/ita/
The Register: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2010/07/01/google_buying_ita_software/
