ITA Software – the fallen ‘David’ of modern day Airline technology business

 “There comes the David to fight the mighty Goliath” -that was the theme that got promulgated among the Airline industry critiques. This happened at a time when ITA software made its foray into Airline Reservation Systems. Two years later, today, the David had beaten a hasty retreat from the battle field.

Why, why didn’t the fanfare last only for 2 years? Why didn’t the ITA (with full backing from Google) make inroads into the markets of Amadeus, Galileo, Sabre or Worldspan? The question lingers around without any of facts, but straddles with widespread speculation.

Let’s examine some of the available facts. In first place, ITA wasn’t an enterprise software of any sort. It didn’t address the end to end Airport/ Aviation market. It tried to create a vent in market by pushing its passenger reservation system, hoping to get a larger pie in the forthcoming days.  The 2005 contract with Air Canada was a big impetus for ITA, but died a short life due to the financial crisis faced by the Airlines.

ITA kept on struggling until 2011 when it managed to cut a deal with American Airlines. However, the deal was so small to quench its thirst and it started fizzling out. Added to this predicament was the priority of Google which prevented ITA from pursuing something so far afield — airline reservations systems — from its search business.

Google/ ITA started realizing that even with their current wherewithal, they may not make a big dent in technology systems that enable airlines to process tickets, maintain departure and control systems, choreograph crew scheduling, and handle baggage. This understanding fomented in the board meetings and that’s when Google ITA decided to pull off from the Airline Reservation system market.

And we heard them right – R.I.P for ITA passenger reservation system!