Offshore drilling rig contractor Seadrill has filed for bankruptcy protection at a U.S. court, it said on Wednesday, the second time in four years the company has entered into a chapter 11 restructuring, Reuters reported. The Oslo-listed group controlled by Norwegian-born billionaire John Fredriksen returned to court along with several subsidiaries after failing to win consent from bank lenders to postpone payments on $5.7 billion of debts. Its total debts and liabilities stood at $7.3 billion at the end of the third quarter of 2020.

Nearly 40,000 UK construction firms face insolvency by the end of April, according to Red Flag Alert data, Construction Global reported. It warns their collapse would mean £2.2bn in unpaid invoices are at risk of disappearing from construction supply chains. The latest ONS data focusing on the business impacts of COVID-19 shows 13.6% of construction companies have low or no confidence that their businesses will survive the next three months - a predicament affecting 39,491 firms.

The European Parliament on Thursday approved measures to suspend competitive access to airport slots throughout the summer as the coronavirus travel slump drags on, Reuters reported. Under normal rules, airlines must use 80% of their take-off and landing rights at busy airports or cede slots to competitors. The so-called “use it or lose it” rule was waived last March when the COVID-19 crisis grounded most flights.

Birmingham Airport is to get an £18.5m emergency loan from the city council to help avoid the threat of insolvency, BBC.com reported. Since the pandemic, the airport has seen passenger numbers fall by 91%. The loan was approved by the cabinet group on Tuesday when councillors were told the site was enduring the most "severe downturn" in its history. However, some councillors questioned whether more funding might be needed in future due to on-going uncertainty about air travel.

The Spanish government is mulling additional economic measures to ease the situation facing thousands of companies badly hit by the COVID-19 pandemic, particularly in the hotel, restaurant, and catering (HORECA) sectors, EURACTIV.com reported. Economy and Digital Transformation Minister Nadia Calviño has stressed that the government is considering the implementation of additional measures to mitigate the heavy impact of the pandemic and to “reinforce the solvency of firms.” Tourism is one of Spain’s key economic drivers.

Britain’s government has risked creating a legion of ‘zombie’ companies by encouraging banks to lend 45 billion pounds ($62 billion) to small businesses with a 100% state guarantee during the COVID pandemic, a leading think tank warned on Wednesday, Reuters reported. The Resolution Foundation said most of the support given by the government to businesses and workers was useful and more would be needed when finance minister Rishi Sunak sets out his 2020/21 budget on March 3.

Businesses say they’re barely coping with the current pared-down regime of Brexit checks on goods shipments to Northern Ireland and want to delay fuller checks due to kick in on April 1, Politico reported. Executives from ports, haulage, logistics and customs clearance firms issued their plea on the eve of Thursday’s meeting between European Commission Vice President Maroš Šefčovič and U.K. Cabinet Office Minister Michael Gove in London.