International carriers which have been suffering massive losses due to the coronavirus crisis are massively cutting their workforce, leaving thousands without jobs. More cuts could come as the prospects for a quick recovery fade.

Europe's top airlines said they would have to ax tens of thousands of jobs in order to cut costs because of the rapidly deteriorating medium-term outlook for aviation. According to the general secretary of the British Airline Pilots' Association, Brian Strutton, aviation workers face a "tsunami of job losses."

Ryanair, Lufthansa, British Airways, Scandinavian Airlines, and Air France-KLM could shed as many as 32,000 jobs among them. The Irish discount carrier Ryanair will cut 3,000 jobs and keep 99 percent of flights grounded through June, adding to a mounting employment toll that includes 12,000 cuts at British Airways and 5,000 at SAS AB.

EasyJet announced on Thursday it will cut up to 30 percent of its workforce and reduce its fleet, with CEO Johan Lundgren saying these were "very difficult decisions."

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While the pandemic has led to a 96 percent plunge in air travel within the United States, the nation's airlines are not allowed to implement any layoffs as a condition of their $25 billion bailout package. However, the ban only runs until September 30.

United Airlines has already told staff it plans job cuts of at least 30 percent on October 1. According to reports, a third of United's 12,250 pilots may have to leave the company. Other airlines, including Delta, also have warned of coming job cuts.
Around 100,000 employees at the four major US airlines (American, United, Delta, and Southwest) have also agreed to take salary cuts or unpaid leave, some for as long as nine months.

American Airlines announced on Thursday it is planning to cut 30 percent of its management and support staff, a reduction of about 5,000 jobs, because of the toll the pandemic is taking on the business. The carrier had about 130,000 employees at the end of 2019 and so far, about 39,000 have taken voluntary leave or early retirement.

Smith, who said he did not believe that the virus poses a serious threat, wanted to stir the pot.

For years, he has run his 60-seat bar, which occupies a converted alleyway on Elgin's main drag, just as he pleases. Smoking is permitted during karaoke nights and performances by local talent, and beers are served in black-and-white koozies that say, "Come and drink it," playing off the Texan battle flag.

A two-month shutdown from Texas officials had forced him to cancel a benefit concert for veterans and close down during the busy rush of customers that fly into nearby Austin for South by Southwest. For three weeks, a Bastrop County rule required him to wear a face mask in public or face up to 180 days in jail.

"Why are we having to do this?" he asked. "We're not here to live in fear."

A town of about 10,000 people, Elgin has reported 53 coronavirus infections and one of the two deaths in the county. Even as numbers in Texas are on the rise and local officials continue to encourage residents to cover their faces, Smith said he does not believe masks are necessary.

Bartenders need to see their customers' faces to check IDs and make sure no one gets served too many drinks, he argued. Anyone with the virus, including those who are asymptomatic, should not be coming out to begin with. Besides, he asked: How are you supposed to down a beer with a bandanna stretched across your lips?

One regular at the Liberty Tree Tavern, 58-year old Charles Chamberlain, said he survived both stage 4 cancer and the H1N1 virus, also known as swine flu. He spent a full year living out of a Houston hospital, he told the Austin American-Statesman, before becoming so frustrated at his isolation that he cut the cancer treatment short.

"This quarantine . . . That's not living, that's existing," he said. "Going to the bar, going to the lake, going swimming with your friends, barbecuing, fishing - that's living."

Smith, who also ranches cattle, said his customers have social distancing built into their rural lifestyle. For now, the regulars don't seem to mind his request. No one had been kicked out yet for disobeying the poster, and one customer's son, who has intellectual disabilities, was allowed to keep his mask on.

Chamberlain, who has been out to the Liberty Tree Tavern about three times since it reopened, plans to keep coming back.

"You should have a choice of what you want to do," he told the Statesman. "If I get it, I get it. If I do, I'll deal with that. You can't his sentiments clear: