“Qantas has a long and proud history of supporting the Australian Olympic and Paralympic Teams, from first flying Olympic athletes to the London Games in 1948 to our engineers designing custom cushions and support devices for our Australian Paralympians to travel comfortably on long-haul sectors,” said Qantas CEO Vanessa Hudson.

“We are so proud to support our Australian athletes and supporters to get to the Games once again and hope our special cheer squad 787 will help spur on our teams and supporters to put on a great show in Paris.”

Qantas is set to launch its new service from Perth to Paris next month ahead of the Games, which will operate four times per week during the peak European season before reducing to three times weekly from mid-August.

Qantas will be the only airline in the world to fly direct between Australia and France, and the route will mark its latest ultra-long-haul destination using its recently expanded 787 fleet. The return will also mark the Flying Kangaroo’s first commercial flight to France in almost two decades.

Anna Meares, the Australian Olympic Team’s chef de mission for Paris 2024, has thanked Qantas for its support.

“As an Olympian, flying on that Qantas plane home from a Games, to meet friends and family in the Qantas hangar welcome home, is such a special memory,” she said.

“I’m looking forward to our 2024 Olympic Team making their own Qantas memories on their journey to and from the Paris Games.”

According to Australian Paralympic Team chef de mission Kate McLoughlin, the Paralympians have an important relationship with Qantas.

“Qantas offers flexibility around the travel requirements of people with a disability and the equipment they carry, and it’s great the way Paralympics Australia and Qantas collaborate to understand the needs of our team,” she said.

“The flight home from the Games is always special. Qantas has delivered our Paralympians on charter flights home from London 2012, Rio 2016 and Tokyo 2020 and we’re thrilled that our team will again be flown home to Australia by Qantas after the Paris Paralympics.”

Qantas’ popular Perth-Rome service is also set to restart this weekend for the third year.