Airey has been in the market for a new position since she stepped down from the chief executive position at Iostar, the television production company and investment firm, last month. She quit just eight days into the job due to contractual issues and questions over the company's investment strategy.
She is understood to have been personally approached by ITV's executive chairman Michael Grade to take an as yet unspecified role at ITV.
The move could leave the door open to reignite one of the most successful double acts in commercial television history, as her former colleague from her days at Sky, Nick Milligan, managing director of Sky Media, also shortlisted for a top job.
Prior to Sky, Airey and Milligan worked together at terrestrial broadcaster Five, where she was chief executive to Milligan's deputy chief executive.
Milligan is understood to be one of the shortlisted candidates for the vacant commercial director role at ITV, created following the departure of Ian McCulloch, announced last night to the London Stock Exchange.
McCulloch departed the broadcaster after 27 years, saying: "After 27 years with ITV, it feels like the right time for me to explore new opportunities. The creation of a single ITV sales operation and the organisational restructures and strategy realignment involved in achieving that has been a great a challenge," Mr McCulloch said.
"We now have a refocused sales structure and marketing operation that reflect the needs of our customers much more effectively. With those changes in place and the new strategy bearing fruit it's time for me to face some fresh challenges elsewhere."
Channel 4 sales boss Andy Barnes is also believed to have been approached to take the top commercial position at ITV, but speculation is that he has already been ruled out due to the cast iron nature of his contract at Channel 4.
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