HOUSTON -- These days, a trip to the airport means long lines, long waits and high prices.

But those annoyances are a world away for Houston businessman Mark Kalinsky.

He travels by air a few times a week, but he does it in a four-seat charter plane.

“I go places all the time for meetings,” he said. “Now I can fly to Dallas, go to San Antonio and be home for dinner.”

Kalinsky is part of a growing number of businesspeople opting out of commercial airline misery and booking air taxis instead.

“I don’t know how you feel, but even after a three- or four-hour commercial flight, for some reason I am tired when I get there, and I haven’t done anything,” Kalinsky said.

11 News photo

Businesspeople are using air taxis like this to escape commercial airline woes.

So now he flies with Open Air, a Maryland-based company that came to Houston six months ago.

“After about the first month of operation, we added a second aircraft to the Houston market, and we have seen steady growth every month, predominately from business travelers,” Michael Reese of Open Air said.

Air taxi passengers are going to cities and towns no more than two hours away – places some airlines have stopped servicing altogether.

When bad weather strikes, delays and cancellations often wreak havoc on commercial flights.  But pilot Lonnie Lucious told 11 News that charter flights can be more flexible when the skies darken.

If the forecast is ominous, charter flights can leave earlier, keeping delays to a minimum.

So what’s the price tag for all this convenience?

Air taxi rates vary from around $525 to $595 an hour – hardly cheap.

But that cost is split among the passengers.

“One of the ways you justify it is by filling the plane,” Kalinsky said.

11 News checked online, and right now a last-minute booking to Dallas costs $265.

A charter flight to Dallas with three passengers comes to $525 a person.

It’s double the cost, but …

“We don’t have to deal with security, baggage, you step out of your car and into the airplane and you’re off,” Kalinsky said.

And that makes it an option worth paying for in the eyes of an ever-growing number of Texas businesses.