Finnair on Monday said it expects to cancel about 550 flights this week due to labour union strike action against the Finnish government on Feb 1 and 2.

"The political strike will have a significant impact on Helsinki Airport's operations and on Finnair's flight operations," the carrier said in a statement.

Finnair will implement flight cancellations in its systems one flight at a time, starting from Tuesday morning Jan 30, it said, adding that customers would be offered alternative routings.

Finnish unions have protested in recent months against the right-wing government's plan to favour local work agreements over centralised bargains, limit political strikes and make it easier to terminate work contracts. (Reporting by Louise Breusch Rasmussen, editing by Terje Solsvik)