France is warning flag carrier Air France-KLM against making forced job cuts, with Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire saying such a move would constitute a “red line” the carrier shouldn’t cross after receiving a state bailout, Bloomberg News reported. “We spent money to save Air France,” he said Thursday in a radio interview.

Germany and Deutsche Lufthansa AG are considering cutting back the country’s 9 billion-euro ($10.1 billion) aid package as the airline group closes in on additional commitments from Switzerland, Austria and Belgium, people familiar with the discussion said, Bloomberg News reported. The government is ready to lower the burden for Germany’s taxpayers and is weighing whether to reduce an earmarked 3 billion euros of loans to Lufthansa from the state-run Kreditanstalt fuer Wiederaufbau fund, the people said, asking not to be named discussing a confidential matter.

Austrian short-haul budget carrier Level Europe plans to file for insolvency, it said on Thursday, becoming the latest airline casualty of the coronavirus crisis despite the financial might of parent IAG, Reuters reported. The small airline, previously known as ANISEC, began operating in 2018. It has six Airbus short-haul jets and is part of IAG-owned Vueling Group. British Airways owner IAG also operates a long-haul airline called Level, which is separate from Level Europe, an IAG spokeswoman said.

The economic pain for Greece may be similar to other southern European nations. The European Commission forecasts that Greek national income will shrink by 9.7% this year, compared with 9.5% in Italy and 9.4% in Spain, Bloomberg News reported in a commentary. The country is, however, expected to rebound more sharply in 2021, by 7.9%, compared with an expectation of 6.5% growth for Italy and 7% for Spain. Greece’s initial contraction — set to be the largest in the EU — is happening because the economy relies heavily on tourism. As foreigners stay at home, hotels and restaurants suffer.

Germany will see a substantial increase in government debt as it spends its way out of the coronavirus crisis, with its debt-to-GDP ratio set to increase to 77 per cent from below 60 per cent currently, its finance minister said, the Financial Times reported. Olaf Scholz made the announcement on Wednesday as he presented a second supplementary budget for 2020 that envisages additional borrowing of €62.5bn. Added to the €156bn of new debt included in the first extra budget in March, that takes the total for this year to €218.5bn.

A record number of distressed debt funds are seeking to raise fresh capital as the coronavirus pandemic sparks dislocation in the credit markets, Bloomberg News reported. Seventy funds that focus on troubled companies are looking to bring in a combined $72 billion of capital amid a possible prolonged downturn, according to London-based research firm Preqin. That’s more than double the capital targeted by distressed debt funds during 2019, and is higher than any point since 2016. Private credit firms have been building up distressed debt funds for years in preparation for a downturn.

The Bank of England is widely expected to boost its support for the U.K. economy again on Thursday amid signs that recovering from the pandemic-induced recession will be harder than hoped, Bloomberg News reported. Economists predict the central bank will expand its bond-buying program by 100 billion pounds ($125 billion), taking it to 745 billion pounds, and investors are watching keenly for any hint of radical policies such as negative interest rates and yield curve control. The decision will be announced at noon in London.

Air France plans to offer about 8,300 staff incentives to leave in a bid to cut costs without stirring a political backlash after receiving a massive state bailout, people familiar with the proposal said, Bloomberg News reported. The Air France-KLM unit will seek the voluntary exit of around 300 pilots, 2,000 cabin crew and 6,000 ground staff, according to the people, who asked not to be named because the plans aren’t public. The cuts could affect roughly 17% of workers, though that may change after union and management talks, they said.

German airline Lufthansa, responding to investor criticism of a state-backed rescue deal, warned it might need to apply for protection from creditors if the bailout plan failed to win shareholder approval, Reuters reported. Lufthansa’s biggest shareholder, German billionaire Heinz Hermann Thiele, criticised the 9 billion euro ($10.1 billion) bailout, saying he had raised his stake in Lufthansa to over 15% and hoped alternative options could be explored.

Bankers in Sweden are positioning for a wave of debt deals from real estate issuers, as the industry tries to move out of increasingly costly borrowing arrangements, Bloomberg News reported. Catella AB, a Swedish boutique advisory firm specializing in the property sector, has been hiring to make sure it has enough bankers to handle the development. “The demand for different sources of debt financing will increase in the Swedish real-estate market going forward,” Carl Wingmark, head of property advisory at the firm, said in an interview.