Long lines at major airports have businesses searching for a more convenient way to travel.

The manager of the rice lake regional airport says it's much faster to take off from there than from the twin cities.

"This is a typical Monday," Rice Lake Regional Airport Manager Jerry Stite says, as about half a dozen aircraft wait for take-off on the tarmac.

The roar of each engine is music to his ears. During times of skyrocketing gas prices, these business flights are keeping his airport afloat.

"We see that the general aviation flier, the people that use the airplane for recreational use, casual use, that has gone down, but the atmosphere of the airlines has changed, so we see more corporations flying not only their employees, but their customers through charter or private aircraft, rather than relying on the airlines,” describes Stite.

He says there's big benefits to flying solo.

"if you were to leave Rice Lake at 7 or 8 in the morning and you were to go to Chicago by air, to possibly Eau Claire, on to Minneapolis, and then to Chicago, and do that in reverse, and probably cannot make a business trip to Chicago in that same day," says Stite. "This is an option they can use to fly up and back to rice lake without the hassle of the airlines."

According to Stites, the more air traffic through Rice Lake, the more revenue; making charter flights good for everybody's business.

"Overall, the pressure on funding is still there for private aviation airports."

Stites says regional airports like Rice Lake that don't have major airlines don't receive as much federal funding.

Recently, that budget crunch on local governments hit Dunn County, when they did not renew their usual $3000 contribution to the Chippewa Valley Regional Airport.

The airport's director Charity Speich says it won't make a huge dent in the million dollar budget but it does affect the view as a "regional" airport.