(Bloomberg) Nigeria’s deadliest airline crash in almost 40 years casts a shadow over an industry that gained a U.S. safety rating upgrade two years ago, as investigators focus on possible engine failure as the cause of the accident.

The Dana Airlines Ltd. crash on June 3 was the worst since 1973 in the West African nation and the first fatal one in Nigeria in more than four years, according to the Aviation Safety Network’s database. Since an ADC Airlines plane went down in October 2006, killing 97 people, the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration gave Nigeria a Category 1 rating in August 2010, allowing domestic carriers to fly to the U.S.

“The government has been working hard to improve aviation security, but it has faced an uphill battle and flaws persist,” Roddy Barclay, a London-based analyst at Control Risks, said in an e-mail. “Following a lull in major aviation disasters in Nigeria, the incident will provide a setback for the authorities, prompting a review of existing regulations and enforcement.”

The crash is a blow to President Goodluck Jonathan’s government, which is battling a violent campaign by the Boko Haram Islamist group, an electricity gap that is hindering industrial growth and corruption in the oil industry that is costing the nation billions of dollars in revenue annually.
National Setback

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