Jul 6, 2011 13:04 GMT  ·  By

After a lot of drama, Google was allowed to buy ITA, a flight data provider, to bolster its search results with airfare info and the likes. This has always been a weak spot for Google, Bing has a much better vertical search tool for flights, while Google displays very limited data and mostly links to travel sites for more data.

But Google Search is about to get a lot better for travel searches, as several tools, based on ITA data and services, are coming soon, TechCrunch reports.

Google is said to be close to launching several new features that offer significantly more info and better integrate airline and flights data.

One example of an ITA-powered feature about to land is a maps-based tool which enables users to get pricing data for flights to several destinations, from their home town, and compare the offers.

All of this is displayed on a map overlay, so it's not too hard to imagine that it will integrate Google Maps or perhaps even be a feature for the online mapping tool Google offers.

Flight data would also show up in the search results serendipitously, certain more general searches will also reveal prices for flights to destinations related to the query.

Finally, for searches that are clearly about flights, Google will include even more data like pricing, of course, the airlines servicing the route and where to buy tickets.

But Google doesn't have a free hand in using ITA data and tools. Since software and data provided by ITA is used by many players in the online travel business, Google had to promise to continue to service them.

What's more, Google can't use data on competitors it may gather via ITA to bolster its own products. Even with these restrictions, Google's sheer size practically guarantees it a spot in the travel market and, if the products deliver the results they promise, it may even become a big player.