A direct air route to London could be a blessing to LDS missionaries, a boon to country music or a benefit to a Burlington carwash company, depending on which competing city you listen to.

In its bid, Salt Lake City included a letter from the LDS Church saying the air route would help the LDS Church spread its message across the United Kingdom. And Nashville, Tenn., bidders say the route would increase the popularity of country music in the British Isles.Compared with those pitches, Raleigh's proposal is pretty dry. It focuses on issues like the number of passengers who would be served by bringing the route to Raleigh-Durham International Airport and the millions of dollars in trade that flows between the Triangle and Europe.

But among the myriad letters of support, the owner of Southern Pride Car Wash Systems said the route could help improve his sales overseas.

The tidbits submitted last week to the U.S. Department of Transportation as part of a competition for the air route provide interesting reading.

"Country music has come to the United Kingdom," boasted William Swelbar and Daniel Akins of Airtrans, an aviation economics consulting company working with Nashville airport officials. "It has caught on in London and elsewhere in the United Kingdom and Europe, with all the enthusiasm and vigor that we saw in this country when English pop music was introduced in the 1960s. Nonstop Nashville-London service will serve to strengthen those ties."

Nashville airport officials assured the Transportation Department that "Opryland - the city's country music theme park - totally supports Nashville's selection as the next U.S. gateway to London." They added that "Country Music Television-Europe" is expected to soon reach more than 2 million homes in Britain.

In Salt Lake City, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints said its missionaries want access to Britain.

"The church has a very long and rich history in England," wrote the church's Presiding Bishopric, in a letter supporting the city's bid for the London gateway. "Worldwide, the church has established 277 missions with nearly 49,000 missionaries in the field.

"These and other activities and secular functions of the church require significant international travel. Direct international air service to London would provide a much-needed improvement over existing services."

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The inch-thick report also had letters from Kennecott, whose owners are based in London, high-tech vendors WordPerfect and Evans & Sutherland, and airport directors in Boise, Portland and Las Vegas.

The Salt Lake City Airport Authority argued that East Coast travelers have numerous direct routes to London, while the Mountain West has none. It estimated a direct route to London on Delta would attract more than 110,000 local and connecting passengers.

While Raleigh airport officials plan to supplement their proposal with more information on North Carolina tourism, they said the decision on awarding the route will rest more on hard data than on amorphous amenities.

"There are facts and figures that are more important than tourist attractions, because leisure activities are sometimes discretionary travel," RDU spokeswoman Teresa Damiano said. "What's more important is to look at the gross numbers of passengers expected to use the route and the business activities that would support the service."

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