Google Flight Search Hits the Runway

Google launched a new flight search engine Tuesday that it hopes can compete with the likes of Kayak and Expedia.

Users will be able to search flights by entering keywords such as flights from New York to San Francisco. A flight tab will appear in the left-hand panel or users can access flight searches through google.com/flights.

Users can filter results through route, airline, and price to find the flight they are looking for. After selecting flights, users can select book and are redirected to the selected airline's Web site to purchase the flight.

Currently, the tool only is available for large U.S. destinations in economy class. The search engine also only displays flights from participating airlines.

This is just an early look: the takeoff, not the final destination! Google said when announcing the feature on their official blog, in hopes of continually updating and improving the feature.

The flight search engine comes in the wake of the acquisition of ITA Software last April, which specializes in organizing flight data. The ITA Software and Google technology may give Google an edge in the travel market with simple lists of flights at the super-fast speeds consumers have come to expect from Google.

However, Kayak isn't threatened by Google's entrance into the market.

We believe our flight search technology is superior, Robert Birge, chief marketing officer of Kayak, told USA Today. We recognize Google is a formidable competitor, but they haven't been successful in every (niche) they've entered.

Google has slowly entered the travel market with a similar hotel search and the acquisition of Zagat, which is popular for restaurant reviews and small guidebooks.

Watch how Google flight search engine works below: