Short-term declines in demand and increasing competition impacts on profitability, as shown by Airline Business' financial ranking of the world's top 150 airline groups in 2000 (Table 3.3). O'Toole and Ombelet (2001) commented that the airlines had the worst collective net margin (1.1 per cent) since the industry began to recover from the last recession six years ago and that growth has already shown signs of stalling as the world prepares for downturn. The emphasis is on trimming seat supply. British Airways was one of the few to cut back on seats in 2000 and KLM kept growth below 2 per cent. Lufthansa also has put its aggressive expansion on standby.