RDU: It's up to the business community to get a new nonstop European flight

Raleigh-Durham International Airport staff in charge of advising airlines on a new nonstop trans-Atlantic flight says the option is drawing near, but the community needs to pitch in to secure it.

"We're at the point of asking the community, 'Do you want this?'" says Teresa Damiano, vice president of communications and community affairs at RDU. Damiano participated in the campaign to secure the nonstop flight to London 20 years ago, in which GlaxoSmithKline was heavily involved.

"If the community desires this, they need to begin the mobilization – or it's not going to happen," says her colleague Dave Young.

Read: RDU could have nonstop flights to one of these European cities by 2016

RDU is looking to the Triangle's top companies again, saying they need to come together and form a coalition of interested parties to pitch their needs to the airlines.

Which airlines would those be? Damiano says it's no secret that both Delta Air Lines (NYSE: DAL) and Lufthansa (XETRA: LHA) have both been interested in providing a new trans-Atlantic service out of RDU for a few years.

"Each of those carriers say it looks as if there is sufficient volume for either flight," says Damiano. "Now it's up to the community, and the timing of aircraft availability."

While airline fleets have been stagnant in the past few years, Young says that will change in the next two to three years, with older aircraft retiring and being replaced by new ones, and airlines evaluating routes – which can mean a route that isn't generating strong revenue for an airline could be taken away and a new route could be established.

Reporter Dawn Wallace covers small business, personalities and Triangle trends.