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GREENSBORO — The 800-job, $100-plus-million aviation project the city hopes to land has put its expansion plans on hold, one of at least four local recruiting efforts stalled because of the downturn in the economy.

Mayor Yvonne Johnson said Monday the unidentified firm is still interested in the Piedmont Triad International Airport and at least one other site.

“This company is still on our radar screen,” Johnson said. “I think as the economic situation improves, they will make some determination.”

There is still no information about the identity of the company, but Johnson has called it “the Rolls-Royce of corporate jets.”

Earlier this year, she said the company would bring jets here for refinishing at a site at PTI.

“They are very high-paying jobs, livable wage and above,” Johnson said Monday.

Other sources say local recruiters have shown company officials land that borders the airport’s new runway and backs up to Bryan Boulevard.

There’s still no specific information about how much land the company would need, but future expansion would be a possibility.

The aviation project isn’t the only one hurt by the economy.

Dan Lynch, president of the Greensboro Economic Development Alliance, told members of the Crescent Rotary Club on Monday that local recruiters have been working on four major projects that could bring 2,000 jobs and $200 million in investment to the area, but all have been put on hold by the economy.

Lynch did not mention any companies by name and declined to elaborate when contacted after the meeting. “I cannot comment on projects we may or may not be working,” he said.

Early this year, the aviation company, which has another plant in the United States, had narrowed its search to PTI and the Greenville-Spartanburg International Airport in South Carolina.

Sources familiar with the search said the company had considered sites in other states and multiple sites in North Carolina, including  Kinston and Monroe.

Once the project gets back on track, Greenville-Spartanburg will likely provide some stiff competition.

“They tend to be able to put a more lucrative incentive package on the table,” said Mitchell Johnson, Greensboro’s former city manager and a special assistant to the acting city manager. “I think we compete very, very well in terms of quality of work force, education levels and quality of life. The Triad is just really hard to beat.”

No incentives have yet been requested.

Should the company select PTI, it would be a major boost to the Triad’s efforts to become an aviation center on the East Coast.

A report last year by the Greensboro Economic Development Alliance said that in the next five years a variety of aviation companies plan to add 1,700 jobs.

The alliance said more than 3,300 people already work in aviation-related companies in the Triad.

The new project came to light Jan. 13 when Yvonne Johnson announced her re-election plans. She mentioned her hopes of landing an 800-job aviation company.

Those pushing the project feared the mayor had jeopardized the city’s chances of landing the company by talking about it publicly.

“I said too much the first time,” she said. “I was so excited.”

And on Monday, she would add no additional details.

“I don’t want to mess it up,” the mayor said. “I am hoping like all get-out that they will come.”
 

Staff writer Richard M. Barron contributed to this story.
 

Contact Donald W. Patterson at 373-7027 or don.patterson@news-record.com