Flights in Greece will be disrupted as from today by strike action called by civil aviation staff against government austerity cuts, the country's two leading airlines said yesterday.

A 48-hour strike by the federation of civil aviation associations (OSYPA) that begins today will sideline dozens of domestic flights ahead of a complete flight shutdown during a general strike by unions tomorrow, Olympic Air and Aegean Airlines said.

Olympic said it was scrapping 42 domestic flights today and an international flight to London and rescheduling two services to Milan and Brussels.

Aegean is having to shelve another 17 domestic flights and to reschedule three more, including one to London.

All international flights will be grounded tomorrow, the companies said.

One extra Aegean flight would be provided for Tel Aviv on today and Larnaca shortly before the end of the strike tomorrow, the company said.

The strikes are taking place as the government pushes through Parliament a new wave of spending cuts and tax hikes to slash a massive debt and chronic public deficits that necessitated a £110 billion bailout loan from the European Union and the International Monetary Fund.