Forget social networking. Is Google Air the search engine giant's next big thing?

Not quite, but Google has shelled out $700 million to acquire ITA, a Boston-based software company that specializes in organizing airline data like flight times, availability, and prices, Google announced Thursday.

The purchase will help Google produce new flight search tools intended to simplify the process of searching for flights, comparing options, and buying tickets, Marissa Mayer, vice president of search products and user experience at Google, wrote in a blog post.

"Today, almost half of all airline tickets are sold online. But for many people, finding the right flight at the best price is a frustrating experience; pricing and availability change constantly, and even a simple two city itinerary involves literally thousands of different options," Mayer wrote. "We'd like to make that search much easier."

Travel-related searches are among the highest-volume queries received at Google, but the company denied that it has plans to become a travel agent. The company's hub will facilitate comparison shopping and ultimately drive traffic to Web sites for online travel agents, Google said; presumably how Google News drives traffic to news Web sites.

"Google won't be setting airfare prices and has no plans to sell airline tickets to consumers," the company said.

In a FAQ posted online that asked whether Google wanted to compete with companies like Orbitz or Kayak, Google said it is interested in building a flight search tool that will send customers "to sites where they can buy their tickets" and that Google hopes to have "productive partnerships with as many online travel companies and industry players as possible."

Google currently has two travel-related search features available via Google.com: searching for flight information (like "United 741") as well as available flights (like "New York to SFO"), which returns links to sites like Expedia, Travelocity, Priceline, Orbitz, Kayak, and CheapOair.

"Both features are aimed at improving search quality and neither is based on any financial compensation to or from Google," the company said. "Neither feature relies on data from ITA Software."

"ITA has built a very successful QPX business, and we're looking forward to working with their current and future customers," Mayer wrote. "Google will honor all existing agreements, and we're also enthusiastic about adding new partners."

QPX is an ITA database with searchable information about flights and prices.

Work on the project will not begin until after the deal is approved, Google said. It will likely be subject to regulatory review, which "could take some time," Google said. As a result, the company did not have any additional details on the design of the new travel interface or when it might launch.