FORT SMITH, Ark., Oct. 17 -- Arkansas Best Corporation (Nasdaq: ABFS) today announced third quarter 2000 net income of $23.3 million, or $0.97 per diluted common share, compared to third quarter 1999 net income of $16.1 million, or $0.67 per diluted common share. Once again, this is the highest net income for any quarter in Arkansas Best's history, exceeding the previous record, set in this year's second quarter, by 31%. This year's third quarter net income increased 45% over net income during 1999's third quarter. Arkansas Best's third quarter 2000 revenue of $488.5 million reflects a per day increase of 9.6% over the third quarter of 1999.

"Arkansas Best Corporation, led by ABF Freight System, Inc., produced another outstanding quarter," said Robert A. Young, III, Arkansas Best President and Chief Executive Officer. "ABF continues to perform extremely well as reflected by its third quarter operating ratio of 88.5%. For two of the last four quarters, ABF's operating ratio was below 90%," said Mr. Young.

ABF Freight System, Inc.

Third quarter operating income at ABF was $41.2 million, an increase of 34.7% over its 1999 third quarter operating income of $30.6 million. ABF's operating ratio of 88.5% reflects an improvement of 2.3 points versus its third quarter 1999 operating ratio of 90.8%. "ABF continues to maintain its disciplined pricing philosophy while focusing on operational cost savings. The combination of these two factors has resulted in ABF's best third quarter operating ratio in nearly thirty years. I am very proud of the distinctive position of profitability that ABF continues to maintain in the long-haul, LTL industry," said Mr. Young.

ABF's third quarter 2000 revenue was $357.8 million, a per day increase of 9.4% versus the third quarter of 1999. Third quarter LTL revenue per hundredweight, including fuel surcharge, was $21.69 versus $19.45 during the third quarter of 1999. LTL tonnage per day during the third quarter declined slightly by 0.8% when compared to last year. In the third quarter of 2000, per day LTL shipments in two-day transit time lanes decreased 0.6% compared to a 0.3% shipment decrease in ABF's longer haul business. The productivity of ABF's dock and city driver employees continues to meet management's expectations.

As previously announced in July, ABF's Web site was named by CIO magazine as a Web Business 50/50 Award winner, placing abf.com among the best 50 of all Web sites. Even after receiving this prestigious honor, ABF continues to refine and distribute its innovative eCommerce tools in ways that help lower the administrative costs of transportation. The principal opportunity associated with ABF's eCommerce expertise lies in making existing and new LTL customers more effective in tackling the challenges of their own business-to- business (B2B) channels.

Conference Call

Arkansas Best Corporation will host a conference call with company executives to discuss the company's third quarter 2000 results. The call will be today, Tuesday, October 17, at 10:00 a.m. CDT. Interested parties are invited to listen by calling (800) 946-0783. Following the call, a recorded playback will be available for one week. To listen to the playback, dial (888) 203-1112. The passcode for the playback is 557629. The conference call and playback can also be accessed on Arkansas Best's Internet Web site at www.arkbest.com through Tuesday, October 31.

Forward-Looking Statements

The following is a "safe harbor" statement under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995: Statements contained in this press release that are not based on historical facts are "forward-looking statements." Terms such as "estimate," "expect," "predict," "plan," "anticipate," "believe," "intend," "should," "would," "scheduled," and similar expressions and the negatives of such terms are intended to identify forward-looking statements. Such statements are by their nature subject to uncertainties and risk, including but not limited to union relations; availability and cost of capital; shifts in market demand; weather conditions; the performance and needs of industries served by Arkansas Best's subsidiaries; actual future costs of operating expenses such as fuel and related taxes; self-insurance claims and employee wages and benefits; actual costs of continuing investments in technology; the timing and amount of capital expenditures; competitive initiatives and pricing pressures; general economic conditions; and other financial, operational and legal risks and uncertainties detailed from time to time in the Company's SEC public filings.

The tables on the following pages show financial data on Arkansas Best Corporation and its subsidiary companies.

 
ABF FREIGHT SYSTEM, INC.
COMBINED FINANCIAL INFORMATION
FOR THE THREE AND NINE MONTHS ENDED SEPTEMBER 30, 2000

                          Three Months Ended          Nine Months Ended
                            September 30                September 30
                       2000      1999  %Change     2000      1999  %Change

Operating Revenue*   $357,786  $332,302  7.7%  $1,034,294  $936,421  10.5%
Operating Income*     $41,158   $30,554          $101,021   $72,528
Operating Ratio          88.5%     90.8%             90.2%     92.3%

                           Three Months Ended         Nine Months Ended
                             September 30               September 30
                        2000      1999  %Change     2000      1999 %Change
Revenue*  LTL        $327,912  $301,067   8.9%   $945,791  $851,420 11.1%
          TL           29,874    31,235  (4.4)%    88,503    85,002  4.1%
          Total       357,786   332,302   7.7%  1,034,294   936,422 10.5%

Tonnage*  LTL         755,762   773,950  (2.4)% 2,266,558 2,204,904  2.8%
(tons)    TL          175,995   203,462 (13.5)%   540,828   561,630 (3.7)%
          Total       931,757   977,412  (4.7)% 2,807,386 2,766,534  1.5%

Shipments LTL       1,515,214 1,544,986  (1.9)% 4,520,159 4,428,190  2.1%
          TL           22,084    25,151 (12.2)%    68,068    69,925 (2.7)%
          Total     1,537,298 1,570,137  (2.1)% 4,588,227 4,498,115  2.0%

Revenue/CWT LTL        $21.69    $19.45  11.5%     $20.86    $19.31  8.0%
            TL           8.49      7.68  10.6%       8.18      7.57  8.1%
            Total      $19.20    $17.00  12.9%     $18.42    $16.92  8.9%

Revenue/
 Shipment   Total     $232.74   $211.64  10.0%    $225.42   $208.18  8.3%

Cost/
 Shipment   Total     $205.96   $192.18   7.2%    $203.41   $192.06  5.9%

*Note:  Values rounded to thousands ($000)
There were 63 workdays in the third quarter of 2000 and 64 workdays in the
third quarter of 1999.
Includes U.S., Canadian and Puerto Rican operations of ABF affiliates.