Antitrust Institute Reports on Google/ITA Merger

Antitrust Institute Reports on Google/ITA Merger
By George Dooley

In a new white paper, the American Antitrust Institute (AAI) examined the complex issues for travel distribution involved with the proposed Google/ITA merger which could lead to an “unregulatable monopoly.”

The paper explores both the narrow and broad competition issues that are raised by a Google/ITA link up and its impact on airline distribution. It also studied the impact of American Airlines “direct connect” policy and its effects on distribution.

The AAI said Google would own what many consider to be the premier technology that online travel agents, travel meta-search websites, and airline websites license from ITA to afford Internet users the ability to search real-time pricing and seat availability data in the course of shopping for airline tickets online.

The paper offers detailed background on the proposed ITA/Google merger and insights into the travel distribution system, GDSs competition and online travel agents. The paper was written by AAI director of special projects Randy Stutz and approved for publication by the AAI board of directors.