A picture taken on July 2, 2020 shows the Airbus logo on the company headquarter's building in Saint-Martin du Touch near Blagnac, in the outskirt of Toulouse. (Photo: AFP)

European aircraft giant Airbus said Thursday it was able to limit its losses last year as the airline sector collapsed in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic.

Airbus said in a statement that it booked a net loss of 1.1 billion euros ($1.3 billion) in 2020, a slight improvement over the previous year's bottom-line loss of 1.4 billion euros, demonstrating the group's "resilience... in the most challenging crisis to hit the aerospace industry".