An investigation was launched by the US Department of Justice into the Google’s deal to overtake airline ticketing software firm ITA Software Inc. The DoJ wants to determine if the deal would exert too much influence on the online travel industry, the Wall Street Journal said.

Google bought ITA Software, one of the Web's key providers of airline travel software, for $700 million in July, in a move that Google said would allow it to improve the way consumers find flight and fare information online.

According to the Journal, who cited the sources familiar with the case, the DoJ’s probe is only at an early stage. Antitrust authorities are focusing on whether rivals would continue to have access to ITA's data and whether Google would unfairly steer Web searchers to its own travel services, the newspaper said.