BANGALORE, India – A fledgling effort by Google portending the launch of its flight travel search service in India is creating jitters among online flight aggregators, who fear their business model is under threat.
Google, whose services include Gmail and YouTube, is “very close” to introducing Flight Search in India, according to people with direct knowledge of the plan. Flight Search – first launched in the US and then in parts of Europe – lets users compare fares offered by airlines and book tickets directly from airline websites. This could, in effect, make flight aggregators such as Makemytrip, Yatra and Cleartrip redundant, industry observers said. Another website, kayak.co.in lets users compare flight options from hundreds of travel sites at once.