Cheap airfare discount airfare

HONOLULU, HAWAII, U.S.A., 1999 DEC 6 (NB) -- Shares of discount travel concern Cheap Tickets Inc. [NASDAQ:CTIX], which includes a Web site among its sales channels, saw its stock price plummet by as much as 34.5 percent this morning, as the company said its fourth-quarter earnings would be impacted by an ongoing airfare war in the airline industry.

Cheap Tickets' price plunged down to $12 per share just after it opened for trading this morning, down 34.5 percent over the $18.625 close last Friday. As of 9:45 AM EST, the stock was down $5.313 or 29 percent at $13 per share in very heavy trading volumes.

Company Chairman and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Michael Hartley said that, because of the continuing airfare wars, Cheap Tickets' price advantage on its non-published fare business is being hurt, resulting in ticket sales falling short of expectations in the quarter.

As a result, Cheap Tickets said it expects fourth-quarter earnings of approximately $0.02 per share, below Wall Street's expectations, but up from a loss of $0.03 cents per share in the year ago quarter.

Hartley did say that the company expects the hit to be a short-term phenomenon, but he could not predict the precise effect or duration of the situation.

Cheap Tickets' Web site is at http://www.cheaptickets.com .

Reported By Newsbytes.com, http://www.newsbytes.com .

(19991206/Press Contacts: Dale Jorgenson, Cheap Tickets, 808-945-7439/WIRES ONLINE, BUSINESS/)