However, most airlines from the earliest days of air travel in the 1920s and 1930s were personal businesses. Growth rates are not consistent in all regions, but countries with a deregulated airline industry have more competition and greater pricing freedom. This results in lower fares and sometimes dramatic spurts in traffic growth. The U.S., Australia, Canada, Japan, Brazil, India and other markets exhibit this trend. The industry has been observed to be cyclical in its financial performance. Four or five years of poor earnings precede five or six years of improvement. But profitability even in the good years is generally low, in the range of 2–3% net profit after interest and tax. In times of profit, airlines lease new generations of airplanes and upgrade services in response to higher demand. Since 1980, the industry has not earned back the cost of capital during the best of times. Conversely, in bad times losses can be dramatically worse. Warren Buffett in 1999 said "the money that had been made since the dawn of aviation by all of this country's airline companies was zero. Absolutely zero." As in many mature industries, consolidation is a trend. Airline groupings may consist of limited bilateral partnerships, long-term, multi-faceted alliances between carriers, equity arrangements, mergers, or takeovers. Since governments often restrict ownership and merger between companies in different countries, most consolidation takes place within a country. In the U.S., over 200 airlines have merged, been taken over, or gone out of business since the Airline Deregulation Act in 1978. Many international airline managers are lobbying their governments to permit greater consolidation to achieve higher economy and efficiency. Types There are several types of passenger airlines, mainly Mainline airlines operate flights by the airline's main operating unit, rather than by regional affiliates or subsidiaries Regional airlines, non-"mainline" airlines that operate regional aircraft; regionals typically operate over shorter non-intercontinental distances, often as feeder services for legacy mainline networks Low-cost carriers, giving a "basic", "no-frills" and perceived inexpensive service Business class airline, an airline aimed at the business traveler, featuring all business class seating and amenities Charter airlines, operating outside regular schedule intervals Flag carriers, the historically nationally owned airlines that were considered representative of the country overseas. Legacy carriers, US carriers that predate the Airline Deregulation Act of 1978 Major airlines of the United States, airlines with at least $1 billion in revenues See also Related lists References Bibliography