Airbus announced on Monday that it has received an order from the Air Lease Corporation for 111 new aircraft, including 25 A220-330s, 55 A321neos, 20 A321 XLRs, four A330neos and seven A350Fs. The deal, likely likely valued into the tens of billions of dollars, was announced by high-level executives of Airbus and Air Lease Corporation at a press conference in Dubai. It marks the second sale in as many days for the European plane maker, which on the first day of the Dubai Air Show announced the sale of 255 new aircraft to Indigo Partners’ various low cost carriers — a deal valued at some $30 billion, based on the pre-pandemic price list. Dubai International Airport, the world’s busiest for international travel, handled 20 percent more passenger traffic in the third quarter of 2021 compared to the same period last year, its chief executive said Monday, signaling cautious optimism for the ravaged aviation industry. Yet a full recovery remains years off. Just 20.7 million people squeezed through the airport so far this year — a 74 percent drop from before the coronavirus hit in 2019. CEO Paul Griffiths said the figure still represents a sharp turn in fortunes for the crucial east-west transit hub that was clobbered by the pandemic. “We"re still optimistic for recovery being very strong,” Griffiths told The Associated Press amid the aroma of jet fuel and noise of plane takeoffs on the second day of the biennial Dubai Air Show. “It’s going to be a couple of years, but I hope I’m wrong.” Some 6.7 million passengers passed through the airport over the third quarter, with flights surging 17 percent between January and September compared to the same period last year. It"s a welcome change from the steady stream of bad news in 2020, when the airport slashed 34 percent of its staff and mothballed a main terminal as the coronavirus closed borders around the world. “Growth is returning very strongly,” Griffiths said, citing a 40 percent spike in bookings last month. The airport is gearing up for flying to rebound at the year"s end, betting that accelerating vaccinations and relaxing travel curbs will allow Europeans to flee wintry weather for Dubai"s beaches and tourists to visit the giant world"s fair in the city that runs until March. Griffiths said confidence also grew with the loosening of travel restrictions from India and Pakistan, which remained the airport"s largest market this quarter and routinely send legions of laborers and visitors to the United Arab Emirates. Airlines have expanded their flying schedules as the United States recently welcomed back vaccinated Europeans and India reopened for quarantine-free tourism on Monday. Still, there are lingering signs that the industry"s worst-ever crisis may not be over. The Middle East’s biggest carrier, Emirates, reported receiving an additional $681 million from the Dubai government earlier this month, bringing the total cash aid close to $3.8 billion as it posted $1.6 billion in losses for the third quarter. The Dubai Air Show typically sees a stream of order and product announcements over its five days.