First things first. There were more aviation accidents and fatalities in 2022 than there were in 2021.

According to IATA's 2022 Safety Report for global aviation, a total of 158 people died onboard in five of the 39 aviation accidents last year compared to 121 deaths in seven of the 29 accidents in 2021.

IATA is the International Air Transport Association, which represents some 300 airlines around the world that are responsible for 83% of global air traffic. 

The majority of those killed in 2022 were on the China Eastern Airlines plane that plunged into a mountainous area in Guangxi, China in March, killing 132 onboard. This airline is not an IATA member.

Also related: All 132 on crash China Eastern plane confirmed dead

A memorial event on March 27, 2022 at the crash site of the China Eastern Airlines flight MU5735 to mourn the victims

One of the five fatal accidents last year involved an IATA member airline, when a Tanzanian commercial flight operated by Precision Air crash-landed in Lake Victoria in November, killing 19 people.

In its airline safety performance of 2022 released this week, IATA also provides a five-year average (2018-2022) comparison for every metric.

For instance, the five-year average was seven fatal accidents out of 43 accidents, with 231 deaths onboard.

Last year (2022) saw a significant increase in air traffic, with 32.2 million flights recorded compared to 25.7 million flights in 2021 and a five-year average (2018-2022) of 34.4 million flights.

Commenting on the latest report, IATA's director general Willie Walsh (pictured below) says that the only five fatal air accidents among over 32 million flights in 2022 is an indication that "flying is among the safest activities in which a person can engage".

But Walsh, who has been at the helm of IATA since April 2021, is quick to add that air travel is not risk-free.

"Careful analysis of the trends that are emerging even at these very high levels of safety is what will make flying even safer."

In 2022, the fatality risk was 0.11 generally and 0.02 among IATA member airlines. That compares to 0.23 and 0.00, respectively, for 2021.

To put this into context, last year's global fatality risk of 0.11 means that on average, you would need to take a flight every day for 25,214 years to experience a 100% fatal accident. This is an improvement over the five-year fatality rate (average of 22,116 years).

According to IATA, fatality risk measures the percentage of fatalities among the people on a plane in an accident.

The aircraft size or how many people were onboard are not considered when calculating the fatality risk.

Also related: Tanzania investigates deadly plane crash

A Precision Air crash-landed in Lake Victoria last November, killing 19 people

Generally, the all accident rate (accidents per one million flights) was 1.21 in 2022 compared to 1.13 in 2021. This means that there was only one accident in every 830,000 flights last year compared to one in every 890,000 flights in 2021.

The five-year average (2018-2022) rate was 1.26 (one accident in every 810,000 flights).

The all accident rate was much lower for IATA member airlines. It was 0.49 in 2022 (one accident in every 2.1 million flights) compared to 0.61 in 2021 (one accident in every 1.6 million flights).

The five-year average (2018-2022) rate was 0.76 (one accident in every 1.4 million flights).

In aviation, a hull loss is an accident that damages the aircraft beyond economical repair, resulting in a total loss.

The global average jet hull loss rate (per one million departures) increased to 0.17 in 2022 compared to 0.13 in 2021 and 0.16 for the five-year average (2018-2022).

At 0.00 in 2022, the regions of Africa, Asia Pacific, Europe, Middle East & North Africa and  North Africa saw improvements (or no deterioration) compared to the five-yer average of 0.28, 0.26, 0.12, 0.00 and 0.06, respectively.

The second black box from the crashed China Eastern Airlines flight MU5735 was recovered in Guangxi, China in March 2022

Besides the jet crashes, there were also accidents involving turboprop planes, the number of which declined in 2022 compared to 2021.

Despite the drop in turboprop accidents, they accounted for four of the five fatal accidents last year. 

"Although sectors flown by turboprops represented just 10.6% of the total, turboprops were involved in 36% of all accidents, 80% of fatal accidents and 16% of fatalities in 2022," says the IATA report.

Both sub-Saharan Africa and Latin America saw increases in turboprop accidents last year.

"Introduction and adherence to global standards are key to reversing this trend. The priority for Africa continues to be implementation of the International Civil Aviation Organization’s (ICAO) safety-related standards and recommended practices (SARPS),” says IATA director general Walsh. 

The report says that at the end of 2022, 28 African countries (61%) had an Effective Implementation (EI) rate of ICAO SARPS of 60% or greater, unchanged from 2021 and that increased attention is being placed to address the critical elements of the ICAO SARPS. 

“Building a data-rich environment across Africa is also essential to delivering regional improvements such as IATA’s Global Aviation Data Management programme,” adds Walsh.