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GREENSBORO — Federal test planes have been landing on the new runway at Piedmont Triad International airport, and the $150 million project could be ready to open by November.

Ted Johnson, airport executive director, said that the Federal Aviation Administration inspected the 9,000-foot runway earlier this month and approved putting the final layer of paving on the strip.

The runway is parallel to PTI’s main runway and was requested by FedEx when the company announced it wanted to build a package sorting hub here more than a decade ago.

The FAA is paying for the runway, which will not be complete until the paving, lighting and instrumentation are fully installed, Johnson said.

Instruments, which are transmitters needed to guide planes during periods of low visibility, will not be finished on the runway until late winter or spring of 2010.

When finished, PTI will have an advanced instrumentation system similar to those used at Charlotte Douglas International Airport and Raleigh-Durham International Airport.

“This is a highly sophisticated system,” Johnson said.

Crews have worked on the runway for more than three years and it represents another milestone in the transformation of PTI in the 11 years since FedEx announced its project.

With the infrastructure in place, however, FedEx has yet to bulk up its staff in Greensboro to handle expanded cargo shipments. The company has said that until economic conditions improve, it will operate the hub at low capacity with employees from the cargo center it recently vacated here.

It has not yet announced when it intends to hire the workers needed to begin expanded operations.

With the runway, the total cost for the hub is more than $500 million.

As the economy improves, the hub could handle scores of flights each night.

Local officials hope to make the airport the center of an “aerotropolis,” or a region devoted to developing aviation-related businesses.

Earlier this year, Honda Aircraft opened the world headquarters and engineering center at the airport for its HondaJet aircraft. The company already employs 400 workers, but it hasn’t built any planes yet. The first HondaJet is set for late 2011 delivery.

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