European aircraft giant Airbus posted record profits in 2021 after two years of losses as it cruises past the pandemic-induced crisis in the travel industry, company results showed on Thursday. Net profit surged to €4.2 billion with deliveries of aircraft rising eight per cent to 611 planes, Airbus said in an earnings statement. Signalling its optimistic outlook for the future, the company is targeting 720 commercial aircraft deliveries in 2022, an 18 per cent increase. “2021 was a year of transition, where our attention shifted from navigating the pandemic towards recovery and growth,” Airbus chief executive Guillaume Faury said in the earning statement. “Thanks to the resilience and efforts of our teams, customers and suppliers, we delivered remarkable full-year results,” he said. The good results were due to the higher number of deliveries, good performance of the company’s helicopter, defence and space businesses, and efforts to contain costs, Faury said. Deliveries are an important gauge of profitability in the aviation industry as clients pay most of their bills when they receive their orders. In its guidance for 2022, Airbus said it “assumes no further disruptions to the...