NEW DELHI : Indian airlines carried a record 144 million passengers during 2019 albeit at a lower rate than 2018.Indian airlines ended the calendar year by clocking a growth of 3.74% over 2018, when it grew in double digits.The month of December saw 2.56% more passengers over same month last year. This lower growth follows a double digit growth in November on account of travel during Diwali and Dusshera.The Government, however, feels that passengers numbers are set to rebound to double digit during 2020, as airlines have filled the gap created upon Jet Airways ’ grounding.“A bit disappointing. In 2019,we faced headwinds on account of jet Airways but 2020 is going to be different and the double digit growth should be back sooner rather than later,” DGCA DG Arun Kumar told ET.Jet Airways was the second largest domestic carrier till its grounding in April 2019 and other airlines brought in capacity to fill in for flights and slots vacated by the Mumbai-based carrier.