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Airport officials are talking to an aviation-related company that could open a significant operation at Piedmont Triad International Airport.

Henry Isaacson, chairman of the Piedmont Triad Airport Authority, said Tuesday that he met with company executives in mid-June at the Paris Air Show, where he went with state and local officials to recruit business.

The meetings are preliminary, but the company’s interest is strong, he said, even with the depressed state of the aviation industry in general.

“For the most part there’s some concern about the business climate around the world that is holding companies back from making definite commitments at this time,” Isaacson said. “However, there is one company I think may be interested.”

“I think it would be substantial,” he said. “I think they would want to locate here at the airport and I think they would be a real complement to the facilities we already have here at the airport.”

Honda Aircraft and Fed-Ex Express have just opened major operations at the airport. A third runway should be complete later this year for expanded traffic.

Isaacson declined to say how many jobs the company might bring here, but it appears that the company is not considering other airports for its operations.

Dan Lynch, president of Greensboro Economic Development Alliance, the city’s key economic development group, and Keith Crisco, the N.C. Commerce secretary, joined Isaacson on the trip.

Charley Winkler, a spokesman for Crisco, said the department could not comment on any specific meetings. Overall, however, state and local officials had 41 meetings with aviation-related companies that could bring business here, he said.

Lynch said that several meetings were especially productive, but he could not comment on Isaacson’s reference because there were so many meetings he wasn’t sure it would be correct.

Isaacson said the company could make a decision about its operation here before the end of the year.

“There are contingencies involved with this thing that when they’re cleared away, we can sit down and have some serious talks with these people,” Isaacson said.

Also at the airport, the authority announced Tuesday that it has received a $405,000 settlement from Skybus Airlines for money owed when the airline went bankrupt in April 2008.

The Columbus, Ohio-based airline had opened a hub at PTI that lasted only four months before fuel prices sank the company.

Airport officials said that is close to the amount of money they expected — about 80 percent of the total due.

Also, the authority adopted an annual budget for the 2010 fiscal year that is slightly smaller than the 2009 budget.

The new budget, $23.8 million, compared with the 2009 budget of $25.3 million, is based on a projected 13 percent decrease in passenger boardings for the year and a 12 percent decrease in consumer service revenues.

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