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Last year at this time, Piedmont Triad International Airport hummed with activity as it welcomed the new discount airline Skybus and its vast potential.

What a difference a year makes. Skybus is long bankrupt. The airport's much-awaited opening of the FedEx package hub is delayed. And passenger traffic is drifting downward as the national recession forces airlines to scale back operations.

But airport officials have plenty of reasons to think 2009 could still be a good year for them.

• As early as this week, the airport could find out if this region wins an 800-job aviation operation.
• Current tenant Honda Aircraft has already exceeded its hiring projections and could grow even more.
• FedEx, despite getting hammered by the national recession, is still committed to opening the $300 million hub at the airport this fall, albeit at a reduced level.
• Cessna Aircraft, which already employs 112 workers at its Citation Service Center at PTI, has had preliminary discussions about a possible expansion with PTI's Executive Director Ted Johnson, said Henry Isaacson, chairman of the Piedmont Triad Airport Authority.

What's more, GTCC is boosting its training programs for careers in all facets of aviation and transportation. It has hundreds of students who will be ready to work with new skills when an expected upturn hits in a year or 18 months.

FedEx, Honda and GTCC are beacons for other aviation companies that want strong community support and training.

GTCC has between 450 and 500 students training for aviation jobs, said Ed Frye, chairman of GTCC's Transportation Systems Technology Division. Two building projects are under way just for its aviation programs.

GTCC, with training right on the runway for its students, is one major factor that drew Honda to choose PTI two years ago.

The T.H. Davis/GTCC Aviation Center occupies a building on Regional Road. But it is renovating a former warehouse on Radar Road for expansion and has plans to build a third for its programs nearby, said Frye.

Training programs for Honda Aircraft are full, and others have heavy traffic, Frye said. Honda now employs 400 people - 50 more than it had expected to have when it begins building planes in 2010 - and plans to grow even more.

"For some of the industries at the airport, things have taken a dip because of the economy," Frye said. "But we know it's temporary. Things will pick up in the next ... 12 to 18 months and that's how long it takes me to produce graduates.

"When they start to grow again, we will be putting people out the door. We'll be graduating students... We're just positioned perfectly for a recovery in the economy."

The airport will complete work this year on a major north-south runway for the FedEx hub, which will be another draw for potential business.

The third runway, additional training programs, new highways around the airport, and growth at FedEx and Honda are giving Triad leaders reason to be hopeful about aviation as an emerging industry.

Isaacson and the region's other economic developers have been trying for years to build up the aviation industry. Honda validated their efforts and gave PTI a worldwide brand to showcase.

"That was a watershed event," said Dan Lynch, president of the Greensboro Economic Development Alliance.

The aviation industry here, with more than 3,300 workers, can't compare with the nation's aviation giant, Wichita, Kan., with more than 28,000 workers. But it is providing another way for this community, ravaged in the last decade by job losses in textiles and furniture, to make sure its work force acquires new skills.

No one company is a complete solution, however, as FedEx shows.

When the overnight shipping company announced its East Coast regional hub in 1998, lawyers still shipped legal documents in FedEx envelopes, and conveyor systems were full of employees directing the flow of packages.

Now, Lynch said, sophisticated laser automation has reduced employee count on conveyors, legal forms can be sent in an instant on the Internet and shipping has dropped in the recession.

"This equipment is much more automated," Lynch said. "It's light years ahead of what they have (at their hub) in Indianapolis."

Corporations are very interested in PTI, said Isaacson, because they know that land near a good runway is limited.

"They seek out underutilized airports, underutilized communities," Isaacson said.

Isaacson continues to push for better passenger service after the failure of Skybus. It has always been tough to make the case for airline expansion to PTI because of the region's position between the bigger and busier urban airports in Charlotte and the Triangle.

That tough sell has become even tougher with the bad economy.

Largely because of airline cutbacks, PTI reported that November passenger numbers dropped 17 percent, from 92,277 a year ago to 75,283.

But slow times can be good times to plan, and that's just what airport officials are doing. The airport is working on a plan to guide its industrial growth. Within weeks, the airport could have its new master growth plan ready for inspection, Isaacson said.

A private consultant is working on the plan, which will offer the best course of growth and advice on how the airport should tailor its land regulations. That may involve buying more land to extend its perimeter.

This recession won't last forever, say Isaacson, Frye and Lynch. Preparation must go on.

"FedEx is for real; HondaJet is for real; Timco (aircraft maintenance) is for real,"

Isaacson said. "We've got a lot going for us."

Contact Richard M. Barron at 373-7371 or richard.barron@news-record.com