Ali Bahrami, a long-time industry executive who most recently was vice president for civil aviation at the Aerospace Industries Association, took the helm of the FAA’s Aviation Safety Organization this month. Bahrami succeeds Margaret “Peggy” Gilligan, who retired as associate administrator of aviation safety in March.

In that role, he leads an organization staffed by 7,400 employees based at Washington headquarters, regional and directorate offices and 125 field offices internationally. The organization, with a $1.4 billion annual budget, sets standards and oversees all aspects of the aviation industry from operators, to manufacturers, repair stations, pilots, air traffic controllers and flight attendants, among others.

In accepting the position, Bahrami returns to the FAA, where he served for 24 years, beginning as an engineer and rising to the position of manager of the Transport Airplane Directorate. During that time, he steered the U.S. validation of the Airbus A380 and directed the FAA certification of the Boeing 787 and the 747-8 passenger and freighter models.

Before joining the agency in 1989, he spent 10 years at Douglas Aircraft as a senior engineer, holding responsibilities that included aerodynamic and structural loads analysis on large commercial airplanes, such as the MD-80 and the MD-11.

The appointment was welcomed by a key FAA constituency, the National Air Traffic Controllers Association, which said in a statement that Bahrami’s background “is a great foundation for him to thrive…We are fully committed to working with Mr. Bahrami and all stakeholders to take our safety record to an even higher level.”