Efforts to woo Indian and Chinese investors will only go so far without nonstop flights to those countries, the Atlanta airport’s general manager said as he pledged to do “everything in our power” to bring back direct connections to the world’s two most populous nations. Miguel Southwell also singled out Israel as a focus of Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport’s air service development program, into which the airport is pouring new energy and resources as it aims to drive the city’s economy forward, he told about 900 attendees at the inaugural State of the Airport luncheon March 11.

Mr. Southwell acknowledged that many factors are at play and that airlines are “not charities.” They need to see a compelling business case for starting and sustaining new routes.

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