Swiss International Air Lines has been named the official airline and partner of the Swiss Paralympic and Olympic teams ©SWISS

Swiss International Air Lines (SWISS) has been named the official airline and partner of the Swiss Paralympic and Olympic teams until the end of next year, which will see it offer special flights to Rio 2016.

SWISS will support both teams with air travel to important sporting events abroad, including the 2016 Olympic and Paralympic Games in the Brazilian city.

"As a national airline we are proud to accompany and support our Swiss athletes to important sport events abroad in the future," said Markus Binkert, chief commercial officer of SWISS.

"SWISS as well as Swiss Olympic and Swiss Paralympic represent Swiss values not just through their names, but they carry them into the world and therefore are ideal partners."

Roger Schnegg, director of Swiss Olympic, added: "We are delighted that we added SWISS as a new attractive partner, who supports our athletes at major events.

"With their engagement with Swiss Paralympic, SWISS furthermore emphasise their dedication for sport for people with an impairment on a national level."

Swiss wheelchair racer Marcel Hug will be among the athletes to benefit from the partnership
Swiss wheelchair racer Marcel Hug will be among the athletes to benefit from the partnership ©Getty Images

Earlier this week, it was announced that SWISS had become the official airline and partner of Swiss-Ski until the end of April 2018.

SWISS is set to provide a range of air travel services for the association’s international World Cup and International Ski Federation (FIS) competitions outside Switzerland in all 11 of its winter sport disciplines.

"As the airline of Switzerland, we are particularly keen to support winter sports, which are one of people’s favourite leisure-time activities in our home country," said Binkert.