Google has quietly launched its new flight search service, which will bring it into direct competition with travel giants such as Kayak and Orbitz.
At the moment the service is only available to users in the US, but Google said it will be extended to other markets including the UK.
The move was heralded last year when Google bought the world's largest airline search software company ITA, which is powering its new flight search facility.
Now, when a user in the US searches for flight information on Google, a Flights link appears on the left of the page. Flights can also be found by typing google.com/flights into the address field.
At the moment, Google only offers round trip flights. Users can search by price, flight duration, departure date, destination and number of connections and they are then directed to the airlines' websites to book.
By Linsey McNeill
