SINGAPORE - For the first time, travellers at Changi Airport will be able to fly direct to Warsaw, Poland, from May 15, 2018.

LOT Polish Airlines will start with three flights a week, which will be increased to four from July, Changi Airport Group said on Friday (Nov 17).

The airline will operate the services with a Boeing B-787-8 aircraft in a three-class configuration offering economy, premium economy and business cabins. This translates to 1,008 one-way weekly seats.

With this new service, Singapore is now linked to Poland directly for the first time, the airport said.

Passengers will also have onward connections to other Polish cities as well as Central and Eastern Europe via LOT's network from Warsaw Chopin Airport.

From Changi, LOT's passengers will also be able to access 47 city links in South-east Asia and South-west Pacific.

CAG's managing director of air hub development Lim Ching Kiat, said that Changi has been actively growing its connectivity to Europe, adding that the new link "is a fruit of our collaboration with LOT".

Countries in Eastern Europe like Croatia, the Czech Republic and Hungary are becoming more popular with Asian travellers and LOT's new service from Singapore will bring greater convenience and new options to our passengers to reach these countries, he said.

For the first ten months of this year, over 3.6 million passengers travelled between Singapore and Europe, a year-on-year increase of 7.8 per cent.

By mid-2018, 12 airlines will offer direct services from Singapore to 18 cities in 14 European countries.

Three new European city links - Athens, Dusseldorf and Stockholm - have been added to Changi Airport's network since 2016.

LOT's chief executive Rafal Milczarski, said: "We are more than happy to announce a new direct service between Singapore, one of the most developed business centres in the world and a travel mecca for many tourists, and Warsaw placed in the very heart of Central and Eastern Europe."