Several major airlines said yesterday that they would join forces to offer discount airline tickets over the Internet, according to reports. United Airlines, Continental Airlines, U.S. Airways Group, Northwest Airlines and America West have invested in the Web site, Hotwire.com.
The site is scheduled to launch in the fall and will be designed to compete directly with Priceline.com’s discounted airline prices. The news sent Priceline’s stock tumbling. It fell 6 3/16, or 15.4 percent, to 34 in mid-afternoon trading yesterday.
