Air travel across the state of Iowa is down after terrorist attacks involving four commercial aircraft devastated the East Coast – and the cost of a plane ticket is dropping.

“I fully expect airlines will offer lower prices on a number of flights to bring customers back,” said Michael Audino, Des Moines International Airport spokesman. “It has been and will continue to be the safest form of travel.”

Sen. Richard Drake, R-Muscatine, said air travel is the safest in the country right now, but the big problem is convincing the public of it.

“How do you re-establish safety to the general public?” he said.

Airline officials are considering placing air marshals on domestic planes, Drake said. For years, air marshals have been on international flights, providing undercover security for the general public, he said.

Once people feel safe again, they will begin to fly, Drake said.

Paying for those safety upgrades has proven to be costly for Iowa’s airports. Michelle McEnany, director of the Iowa Department of Transportation Office of Aviation, said the state is evaluating the situation.

Iowa’s nine counties with commercial airports have been declared state disaster areas, opening up state support for immediate safety improvements, McEnany said. Local airports are having to absorb the cost of any additional airport security, such as concrete barricades, she said.

Passenger confidence in the airlines seems to be slowly returning, officials said. The Des Moines International Airport is operating at 80 percent of normal departures and arrivals since the attacks, Audino said. The airport normally has 134 flights a day, he said.

The week after the attacks, The Eastern Iowa Airport in Cedar Rapids was at 50 percent load factor – the planes were leaving 50 percent full – down 15 percent, said Pam Hinman, markets manager for the airport.

The Des Moines International Airport was experiencing record passenger counts for the year – up 0.5 percent in August – but now the airport is bracing for below average passenger counts, Audino said.

With lower revenues and increased cost of security, the Des Moines airport isn’t expected to implement budget cutbacks, he said.

Runway improvements and other airport construction work is continuing as normal.

“It is still too early to know the economic effects of the attack,” Audino said.

So far this year, The Eastern Iowa Airport has seen a 1.4 percent decrease in air travel, Hinman said.

Smaller airports have traditionally seen a more loyal customer base because of the short lines at check-in counters and customer-friendly terminals, she said.

“Yes, you have to get to the airport early for security checks,” Hinman said, “but not like it is at O’Hare [International Airport in Chicago].”