Business as usual at ITA Software as it releases a mobile travel search application for iPhone users and available for integration with client systems.
Built on ITA Software’s QPX system, OnTheFly was placed in the iTunes app store overnight and offers the same comparison shopping features already used by many travel companies and also ITA’s Matrix airfare search platform.
The development of OnTheFly comes against a backdrop of the company’s proposed acquisition by Google and question marks over what the search giant intends to do with the business in terms of consumer-facing functionality.
Features include:
- Flexible airport selection.
- Travel date selector on a single calendar.
- Search by number and type of passengers, departure/arrival times, number of stops, cabin class.
- Map display.
- Search results by airline, number of stops, travel dates and airports, total mileage and carbon emissions.
- Build itinerary flight-by-flight.
- Full airfare calculation.
ITA says the B2B version of the app can be integrated into existing mobile and booking systems while the consumer-facing version on iTunes will remain search-only.
On the one hand developing a B2B mobile service for existing and future customers is a logical step for ITA, but the creation of a consumer-facing app will, once again, trigger further speculation as to what Google intends to do with its acquisition, assuming clearance is granted by the inevitable US antitrust hearings.
But in short: Google will have its very own travel search app for mobile.
ITA says OnTheFly will be rolled out for Android and Blackberry handsets later in 2010.
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