Singapore Airlines' regional wing SilkAir operated its first flight to Kolkata, the capital city of West Bengal, India on Monday.

With the introduction of the four times weekly service to the capital city of West Bengal, SilkAir now serves seven destinations in India, the carrier said in a statement.

The first flight took off at 1.15pm from Singapore Changi Airport Terminal 2 and arrived at Kolkata's Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose International Airport at 3pm.

The return flight will depart from Kolkata at 11.50pm Monday and arrive in Singapore at 6.35am on Tuesday.

The new flights complement Singapore Airlines' three times weekly flights to the city, making a combined daily service by the SIA group between Singapore and Kolkata.

Chief executive of SilkAir, Mr Marvin Tan, said: We believe Kolkata offers tremendous opportunities for both inbound and outbound travel, be it for business or leisure.

SilkAir is well placed to tap on this growth with our extensive combined network with our parent company - Singapore Airlines.

SilkAir's new flights add to Singapore Airlines' existing services, thus giving our customers more flexibility and choice of schedules.

Kolkata, formerly know as Calcutta, is the main business, commercial and financial hub of eastern India.