GREENSBORO, N.C.—
The Federal Aviation Administration recently has begun to put the new runway at Piedmont Triad International Airport through its paces. In the past two weeks, an FAA airplane made several landings and takeoffs to test the systems that help pilots negotiate when taking off and landing.Airport Executive Director Ted Johnson said construction of the runway is nearly complete, and only some markings must be put down. It's scheduled to open in October.
Johnson said a second runway has been in the airport's master plan since 1968, but it was FedEx's desire to locate its mid-Atlantic hub at PTI that set the wheels of construction in motion.
"Unless there could be a parallel runway constructed or already existing, they (FedEx) would not choose an airport that did not have the capability of adding a parallel runway," said Johnson.
And now that the FedEx hub is finished and the runway is months away from opening, Johnson is optimistic about what the future could hold for an airport with two runways and relatively little air traffic.
"There's a lot of potential of future growth, and I think you'll see it as an aerotropolis starts taking shape around the airport," he said. "The airport is probably one step ahead of what's going to happen in the future."
