Six thousand ground staff employed by the national carrier Qantas are staging their second one-day strike this month.

The Australian Services Union workers are demanding a 10% pay rise over two years.

The airline has offered 6% plus a one-off bonus.

The offer has been accepted by three other unions.

Flights cancelled

The union said that more than 165 domestic flights have been cancelled.

Qantas has declined to quote a figure but says no international services have been grounded.

"As far as domestic flights are concerned on major routes, there have been many flights rescheduled and consolidated," said Qantas spokesman Michael Sharp.

Nevertheless, "Qantas expects to fly everybody who has a booking", Mr Sharp said.

Smooth operations

At Australian airports, there were few reports of major delays and check-in queues were moving after many travellers rescheduled their trips for Sunday or Tuesday.

"Actually, I think the service has been better than usual," said Paul Sherwood who was travelling from Sydney to Melbourne.

"The Qantas staff who are here are really trying to make up for it."

Dozens of flights were cancelled on 2 August when the same Qantas workers went on strike for 12 hours in their long-running pay dispute with the airline.