Switzerland and Austria pledged to help Lufthansa with state-backed loans as the German airline pursues talks with Berlin over a 9 billion euro ($9.8 billion) rescue package, Reuters reported. The Swiss government said on Wednesday it will ask parliament for 1.275 billion francs in loan guarantees for Lufthansa (LHAG.DE) units Swiss and Edelweiss. Strict travel restrictions to contain the coronavirus pandemic have brought flights to a near-halt across the world and there is no end in sight for when they can restart, leaving many airlines begging governments for rescue packages.

Fitch has downgraded Italy’s credit rating to a single notch above “junk”, saying the jump in debt levels resulting from the coronavirus crisis will increase doubts about the sustainability of Rome’s borrowings, the Financial Times reported.

Scandinavia’s biggest network airline, SAS AB, is eliminating as many as 5,000 jobs, marking the first permanent staff cuts by a major European carrier in the face of collapsing travel demand, Bloomberg News reported. The Stockholm-based company said Tuesday that the dismissals, amounting to 40% of the workforce, are necessary because employees have an average notice period of six months and it needs to prepare for what may be years of sluggish demand.

HSBC Holdings Plc and Banco Santander SA took the biggest hits so far among European banks struggling to contain the impact of the coronavirus on their loan books, with the U.K.-based lender expecting as much as $11 billion of damage this year because of the outbreak, Bloomberg News reported.

UBS Group AG expressed confidence it can withstand a surge in bad loans while warning that the unprecedented outbreak will put pressure on key streams of income at its wealth management business, Bloomberg News reported. The bank -- which posted a 40% jump in profit to $1.6 billion -- said falling asset prices will erode recurring fee income while low interest rates hit lending income. Despite an expected drop in client activity, UBS indicated the “high quality” of its credit portfolio may shield it from more widespread defaults.

Lufthansa might seek some form of protection from creditors while talking to the Berlin government about a 9 billion euro ($9.76 billion) rescue package, a company source said on Tuesday after government and airline sources said talks on a deal were continuing, Reuters reported. The company source said the type of creditor protection under consideration would require the company to be still solvent, with management staying on to oversee a restructuring.

The German company that built three Coastal-class vessels for B.C. Ferries more than a decade ago is insolvent, Business in Vancouver reported. A B.C. Ferries official said Friday that the organization has no relationship with the Flensburger Schiffbau-Gesellschaft shipyard anymore, since the warranty period for the ships was two years. “We don’t have any service or maintenance relationship with them,” B.C. Ferries spokeswoman Deborah Marshall said Friday.

European markets are hoping the ECB, again facing the task of rescuing the euro zone, will soon add junk-rated company debt to its stimulus programmes, but some investors say such a bold move might prove counterproductive, Reuters reported. Since the fateful ‘whatever-it-takes’ moment in 2012 - when its then president Mario Draghi pledged to save the euro at any cost - the European Central Bank has shown a readiness to cross red lines whenever the bloc’s economy is in trouble.

Norwegian Air Shuttle has warned that the bulk of its fleet is likely to remain grounded for the next 12 months and that a full recovery would not take place until 2022, laying bare the scale of the crisis engulfing the airline industry, the Financial Times reported. As part of a planned $1.2bn debt-for-equity swap to try to ensure the low-cost airline’s survival, Norwegian said on Monday that its base case was that its fleet would remain fully grounded until April 2021, apart from the seven aircraft currently flying in Norway.

Bondholders to U.K. discount retailer Matalan have hired advisers as the company draws up plans to raise additional funding to cope with the impact of the coronavirus lockdown, Bloomberg News reported. Creditors will work with financial adviser Perella Weinberg Partners Group LP and law firm Kirkland & Ellis LLP in the coming weeks, Matalan said in a statement Monday. The retailer said it’s too early to specify the amount of funding required but guided that 60 million pounds ($74 million) could be sufficient to help the business get back on its feet.