An immersive experience spanning over 90 years of history
The exhibition will include emblematic posters, model aircraft, couture uniforms, vintage seats, and more. This exhibition is an opportunity to showcase over 170 original objects making up Air France’s heritage, illustrating how the company has over the years invented a genuine French-style travel experience, down to the smallest detail.
L’Envol des Pionniers also highlights the unique history of Air France in Toulouse. The company’s heritage will be on display in its historic buildings that served as the base from where the airline operated 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.
- And 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
Dedicated to the early days of aviation, the creation of the Lignes Aériennes Latécoère and the Compagnie Générale Aéropostale, and then the birth of Air France, L’Envol des Pionniers is located in Toulouse Montaudran, on the historic site from where the Aéropostale planes set off for Africa and South America between 1918 and 1933. L’Envol des Pionniers tells the story of this incredible human adventure that contributed to the birth of civil aviation, and making Toulouse one of the world’s aeronautical capitals. L’Envol des Pionniers is a Toulouse Métropole facility, opened at the end of 2018 with the support of the Occitanie Pyrénées-Méditerranée Region and the FEDER (European Regional Development Fund) and with the participation of the French National Education Ministry and partners Altran, Ailes Anciennes de Toulouse and the French national audiovisual institute (INA).
L'Envol des Pionniers is managed by SEMECCEL, a semi-public company created by the Toulouse City Hall, whose shareholders are Toulouse Métropole, Toulouse City Hall, the Occitanie Pyrénées-Méditerranée Region, French space agency CNES, Airbus Defense and Space, Météo-France (founding members of the Cité de l’espace), as well as Thales Alenia Space, Caisse des Dépôts et Consignations and the Caisse d’Epargne de Midi-Pyrénées. L’Envol des Pionniers works with partners including MGEN, Banque Populaire Occitane, ENEDIS, Fondation Latécoère, Aura Aero, Delair, H3 Dynamics, Latécoère, OpenAirlines and is also supported by the association Les Amis de L’Envol des Pionniers.
Tags: Arnaud Mounier, L’Envol des Pionniers, Fabien Pelous, Air France
