Google may be looking into buying a flight search engine, reports Bloomberg.
Google is currently in talks with the Massachusetts-based software company ITA. The transaction could cost Google upwards of $1 billion. Bloomberg’s source noted that, though they are currently discussing plans for a buyout, the negotiations have not been finalized yet.
ITA is a developer of flight software that helps users make online travel arrangements. Its software is currently used by Orbitz, Microsoft, and several other airlines.
"Google’s mission is to organize the world’s information, and ITA does that for travel," Henry Harteveldt, an analyst at Forrester Research in San Francisco, told Bloomberg.
The takeover could have serious ramifications for travel search engine optimization (SEO). The digital marketing firm Efficient Frontier found that Bing was making serious gains in the travel sector – in 2009, Bing increased its travel sector market share by 160 percent. Microsoft currently uses ITA for Bing’s travel search engine. The travel sector generated $88.4 billion last year, according to Bloomberg.
