BANGALORE: A fledgling effort by Google portending the launch of its flight travel search service in India is creating jitters among online flight aggregators, who fear their business model is under threat.Google, whose services include Gmail and YouTube, is "very close" to introducing Flight Search in India, according to people with direct knowledge of the plan. Flight Search - first launched in the US and then in parts of Europe - lets users compare fares offered by airlines and book tickets directly from airline websites. This could, in effect, make flight aggregators such as Makemytrip Yatra and Cleartrip redundant, industry observers said. Another website, kayak.co.in lets users compare flight options from hundreds of travel sites at once.In response, the aggregators are considering steps to protect their interests, including a possible complaint to the Competition Commission . They claim discrimination by Google when it comes to search results for queries relating to online travel.Separately, Google is the subject of investigations by the Competition Commission based on complaints that it is abusing its dominance in the country's search-engine market. In February last year, matrimonial site Bharatmatrimony.com had filed a complaint against it.Last month, Google launched a ‘Start Searching India’ campaign aimed at providing users with instant responses on weather and flight status, among other things. This move was read as precursor to the eventual launch of Flight Search in India. Google India said in May that it does not comment on future plans or speculation when asked about its plans to launch Flight Search in the country.Hrush Bhatt, founder and director of travel portal Cleartrip, refused to count Google’s Flight Search as a direct treat but conceded that it could alter the way aggregators allocate their online marketing budget. “We are not sure what value Flight Search would add to consumers, especially if it can only let you compare prices,” he offered.Online travel firms such as Yatra. com, Makemytrip and Goibibo declined to comment. Google denied any knowledge of market participants planning to approach the Competition Commission but said that in the event of that happening, the company will extend “full assistance and cooperation on the matter.”“We’re always happy to answer questions about our business,” the company said. KPMG’s Tuteja said that Flight Search is likely to be popular among India’s fast-growing internet user base—150 million at the end of 2012—that has been increasingly been booking travel tickets and hotels through online portals.In Europe, Google’s Flight Search is under pressure from travel portals such as Expedia and TripAdvisor, which have filed antitrust complaints against Google with the European Commission for promoting rival services and disrupting fair competition in the online travel space. Flight Search makes use of the vast amount of flight-related real-time information from US based travel information company ITA Software.