FEDEX EXPRESS SIGNS LEASE FOR $300-MILLION MID-ATLANTIC HUB

FEDEX EXPRESS SIGNS LEASE FOR $300-MILLION MID-ATLANTIC HUB    FedEx Express, an operating unit of Federal Express Corp., has signed a 25-year lease with Piedmont Triad International Airport to build and operate a $300-million Mid-Atlantic air-cargo package-sorting hub.
   The High Point, N.C. hub, which will be one of six regional FedEx hubs, is scheduled to open in 2006 or 2007. The hub will employ about 1,600 people.
   FedEx Express said it selected the Piedmont Triad airport to serve as its Mid-Atlantic hub over airports in Charlotte, Kinston and Raleigh-Durham, N.C. and Columbia and Greenville-Spartanburg, S.C.
   The Memphis-based express giant selected Piedmont Triad in 1998. The Federal Aviation Administration approved the project Dec. 31, 2001, after an extensive approval process.