Exploring Air France's Heritage

The Legacy of Air France

L’Envol des Pionniers, a Toulouse cultural site dedicated to French aviation history, is presenting an exhibition focused on Air France. This exhibition encourages visitors to explore the company’s evolution from 1933 to the present. To celebrate this occasion, Air France and L’Envol des Pionniers are also featured at Galeries Lafayette Toulouse, enhancing the experience in the heart of the pink city.

An immersive experience spanning over 90 years of history

The exhibition will feature iconic posters, model airplanes, designer uniforms, vintage seats, and more. This event provides an opportunity to present over 170 original artefacts representing Air France’s heritage, illustrating how the airline has created a genuine French-style travel experience, paying close attention to even the most minor details.

L’Envol des Pionniers also highlights Air France's unique history in Toulouse. The company’s heritage will be displayed in its historic buildings, which served as the airline's base for nearly 70 years.

With a fixed path layout highlighting the different eras, the exhibition, which is accessible to all ages, is grouped into four sections -

• The first section, “Enter the legend”, retraces the company’s origins with historical artefacts, archive footage, and emblematic posters from the early days.
• The second section, “A historical link with Toulouse”, explores the link between Toulouse and Air France, from the site where one of the company’s maintenance centres was located until 2003.
• The third section, “Elegance is a journey”, embarks visitors on board eight legendary aircraft to discover the unique travel experience with Air France.
• The last section, “Our professions and expertise”, highlights the unique expertise of airline staff and the company’s multiple professions.

“This exhibition showcases the wealth of Air France’s heritage and our ability to innovate and reinvent the pleasure of travel, with the elegance that characterizes our airline” said Fabien Pelous, SVP Air France Customer Experience.

“It’s a great source of pride and a unique opportunity to showcase the history of Air France at one of the company’s historic aircraft maintenance sites. Staging the exhibition “Air France, a history of elegance” at what is now the site of the L’Envol des Pionniers museum in Toulouse was an obvious choice for us”, said Arnaud Mounier, CEO of L’Envol des Pionniers.

Air France on display at the Galeries Lafayette Toulouse

To accompany the launch of the “Air France, a history of elegance” exhibition, the company and L’Envol des Pionniers are teaming up with the Galeries Lafayette Toulouse to offer Toulouse residents a glimpse of the exhibition in the department store’s window display. Against a scenic background featuring imitation aircraft windows, passers-by can notably admire a range of iconic Air France uniforms and emblematic vintage posters. There’s also an exclusive competition running until 2 March 2025, with the chance to win two plane tickets to one of seven destinations - Casablanca, Dakar, Rome, Tokyo, New York, Rio de Janeiro and London.

About l’Envol des Pionniers and SEMECCEL

Focused on the early aviation era, the establishment of Lignes Aériennes Latécoère and Compagnie Générale Aéropostale, followed by the founding of Air France, L’Envol des Pionniers is situated in Toulouse Montaudran. This historic location was the launch point for Aéropostale flights to Africa and South America from 1918 to 1933. L’Envol des Pionniers chronicles this remarkable human journey that played a pivotal role in the emergence of civil aviation, establishing Toulouse as one of the world’s aeronautical hubs. This facility, part of Toulouse Métropole, was inaugurated in late 2018 with backing from the Occitanie Pyrénées-Méditerranée Region, the FEDER (European Regional Development Fund), and contributions from the French National Education Ministry, alongside partners Altran, Ailes Anciennes de Toulouse, and the French national audiovisual institute (INA).

L'Envol des Pionniers is managed by SEMECCEL, a semi-public organization founded by the Toulouse City Hall. Its shareholders consist of Toulouse Métropole, Toulouse City Hall, the Occitanie Pyrénées-Méditerranée Region, the French space agency CNES, Airbus Defense and Space, and Météo-France, who are also the founding members of the Cité de l’espace. Other shareholders include Thales Alenia Space, Caisse des Dépôts et Consignations, and Caisse d’Epargne de Midi-Pyrénées. L’Envol des Pionniers collaborates with several partners, including MGEN, Banque Populaire Occitane, ENEDIS, Fondation Latécoère, Aura Aero, Delair, H3 Dynamics, and OpenAirlines, and receives assistance from the Les Amis de L’Envol des Pionniers association.