Growth in air travel demand slowed in 2019, according to the 2019 full-year global passenger traffic results from the International Air Transport Association (IATA).  Demand, measured in revenue passenger kilometers (RPK’s), rose by 4.2% over 2018, lower than the 7.3% growth in 2018 over the previous year. It also marked the first year since the global financial crisis in 2009 with passenger demand below the long-term trend of around 5.5% annual growth. Full-year 2019 capacity climbed 3.4%, and the load factor rose 0.7 percentage points to a record high of 82.6%. The previous high was 81.9% set in 2018. Alexandre de Juniac, IATA’s CEO, said airlines did well to maintain steady growth last year in the face of a softer economic backdrop, weak global trade activity and political and geopolitical tensions. He said astute capacity management and the effects of the 737 MAX grounding contributed to the record load factor.