SAN FRANCISCO/WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Google Inc plans to buy one of the Web's key providers of airline travel software for $700 million, potentially raising new antitrust concerns for the world's largest Internet search engine.
Google said on Thursday that it had agreed to buy privately-owned ITA Software, in a move that Google said would allow it to improve the way consumers find flight and fare information online.
"What we're going to do is build new flight search tools that focus on end-users," Google Chief Executive Officer Eric Schmidt said in a conference call with analysts and members of the press on Thursday.
He said that Google had no plans to sell airline tickets to consumers and that Google planned to honor all existing agreements that ITA has with its partners.
