Scottish company Skyscanner has been taken over by China's biggest online travel firm.

The deal is worth around £1.4bn and makes the Edinburgh-based firm one of only a handful of Scots companies valued at more than £1bn.

It will be taken over by Ctrip, a Chinese travel agent which was founded in 1999 and is one of the country's best-known businesses.

Skyscanner said it would still be run independently by its current management as part of the Ctrip group.

Since its inception in 2003, Skyscanner has grown to have 60 million monthly users and employs 800 staff at offices around the world.

It was set up as an online search engine to allow travellers to compare flights, accommodation and rental cars from different operators.

The company was started and remains headquartered in Edinburgh, where 300 of its staff are based.

"Today's news takes Skyscanner one step closer to our goal of making travel search as simple as possible for travellers around the world," said chief executive and co-founder Gareth Williams.

"Ctrip and Skyscanner share a common view - that organising travel has a long way to go to being solved. To do so requires powerful technology and a traveller-first approach.

"In taking the next step to achieving our goal, Skyscanner will remain operationally independent and our growing global team will continue to innovate and deliver the products travellers know and love.

"It's an exciting time for our business, our partners and the travellers who use us."