Travel Sites Band Together Against Google-ITA Merger

October 27, 2010 7:07 PM EDT

A group of travel-oriented web sites have banded together to try and block the $700 million acquisition of ITA Software by Google, urging the Justice Department to challenge the deal.

ITA Software provides that drives searches for airfares and flights used by sites such as Kayak.com and Travelocity. Travel sites such as Expedia.com, Farelogix; KAYAK and Travelocity formed a group called FairSearch.org to oppose the merger.

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ITA and Google agreed to the deal on July 1. Since then the Justice Department's antitrust division has engaged in a review. The DOJ has to approve Google's acquisition before it can be finalized.

The various travel sites are concerned that if Google owns ITA, the company may not renew the existing contracts with other sites once they expire. According to FairSearch.org, there are few alternatives to ITA, which has said it powers the majority of online flight bookings and sales.

FairSearch.org says the combination of Google's market dominance in the ordinary search market and that of ITA could leave them locked out, or left with an inferior service.

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For its part, Google has said in a statement that ITA is not a direct competitor, so the antitrust concerns are misplaced. But FairSearch says the problem is that Google would be left with the option of opening its own travel service. Google also maintains that the three most popular travel sites -- Expedia, Priceline and Travelocity -- don't use ITA's software.

Another issue is that Google's algorithm for search optimization is not public. Even small changes could affect the way search results are displayed and result in some sites getting traffic pushed in their direction while others would be left behind.

This article is copyrighted by International Business Times, the business news leader