NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - Orbitz, the online travel service owned by the nation's five largest airlines, expects to raise just more than $300 million through an initial public offering, the company said in a filing Wednesday.

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Orbitz expects to sell 4 million shares at $22 to $24, with those funds used for general working capital. The company's owners -- American Airlines' AMR Corp. (AMR: Research, Estimates), United Airlines' UAL Corp., Delta Air Lines (DAL: Research, Estimates), Northwest Airlines (NWAC: Research, Estimates) and Continental Airlines (CAL: Research, Estimates), will sell 7 million additional shares now held between them, raising up to $168 million for the financially strapped carriers, or about 55 percent of the offering's proceeds. In addition to shares they're selling, the airlines will continue to hold 28.4 million preferred shares of Orbitz that in the future can be converted into common shares. The offer's underwriters expect to sell 1.65 million shares.

All five airline owners of Orbitz are expected to post losses in the fourth quarter and for the full year, the third straight year of losses for the carriers. The market for new offerings in 2003 has been weak, but it is recently showing signs of life. There were three IPOs on Tuesday, one of the busiest days in the last three years.

Orbitz also reported in Wednesday's filing that for the first three quarters of 2003 it cut its net loss to $1.4 million, down from a $21.7 million loss in the same period a year earlier. The joint venture had a total net loss of $162.1 million from its inception in February 2000 through the end of 2002.

The prospectus does not give an expected date of the IPO, although it does indicate a 2003 offering is expected.