Business class.

• Position: TRIANGLE REGION

More than 100 Triangle companies are banding together to lure a new international flight to Raleigh-Durham International Airport. The Regional Transportation Alliance launched a $500,000 initiative in December to market and recruit a nonstop flight overseas, likely to western Europe--Paris and Germany are top contenders. That's in addition to $500,000 pledged by the Airport Authority. RDU opened Terminal 2 in 2008 and reopened Terminal 1 last spring, capping years of construction and renovation to make it more appealing to travelers and airlines. The airport has played second fiddle to Charlotte Douglas International Airport, the American Airlines Group hub that had more than four times the number of passengers in 2014. American has offered flights between RDU and London for more than two decades, but boosters want more for an area that added 900,000 people since 1990. "It's going to help many companies become more successful," says alliance Executive Director Joe Milazzo. "That new flight might make the...