On 15th September 2017, Latecoere celebrated its centenary at the Toulouse-Francazal airport. On this occasion, Latecoere employees, clients and partners gathered around legendary planes on the tarmac. On this important day, the Group could count on the support and presence of the Vice-President of the Région Occitanie / Pyrénées-Méditerranée in charge of economic development, Nadia Pellefigue; the former Minister of Town and Country Planning, Jean-Michel Baylet; the President of Toulouse Métropole, Jean-Luc Moudenc; the General Secretary to Regional Affairs, Laurent Carrié. It was also the kick-off of the 11th Raid Latecoere-Aéropostale, including a 100% Latecoere crew for the first time in its history.
Jean-Luc Moudenc, President of Toulouse Métropole:
“Latecoere rings a bell for all the inhabitants of Toulouse, this is our history, we must recall how Pierre-Georges Latecoere was an industrial pioneer, especially bold in the technology field. Today, Latecoere is a worldwide recognized company that is determined to play a part in the digital era and energy saving, through its new 4.0 factory which will open soon: in other words, an exemplary modernity.“
Next to him, Nadia Pellefigue:
“The Region Occitanie / Pyrénées-Méditerranée supports and associates itself to the symbol that is Latecoere. In order to make the connection with its industrial area, the Region just acquired the former Latecoere market buildings to develop a place called the “Startups City”.
Nadia Pellefigue, Jean-Michel Baylet, Jean-Luc Moudenc and Laurent Carrié next to Yannick Assouad and Hervé Berardi, president of the Raid Latecoere-Aéropostale
Planes and helicopters on the tarmac of Toulouse-Francazal
For this double celebration of the Latecoere’s centenary and the Raid Latecoere-Aéropostale kick off, guests had the pleasure and honor to see the Patrouille de France fly over the airport. For 20 minutes, all eyes turned to the sky to enjoy this perfectly choregraphed ballet commented by an Air Force officer.
La Patrouille de France – Latecoere 15th September 2017 ©DavidBecus
A huge organization, made possible thanks to a close partnership between local authorities and aviation players: the Patrouille de France, Armée de l’Air, Airbus, DGAC, EDEIS… but also the Toulouse town council and the Region Occitanie.
The Airbus A320neo that crossed the airport’s sky was eagerly awaited and delighted the audience. With its state-of-the-art engines, plus its wings provided with sharklets, the A320neo reduces fuel consumption, exploitation costs and noise levels. Latecoere’s Aerostructures branch manufactures its doors, whereas the Interconnection Systems branch provides avionics racks and harnesses.
The lightning visit of two Rafales Dassault EC 3/30 Lorraine from the BA118 of Mont-de-Marsan also impressed the guests! Employees showed pride as the Aerostructures teams produce the rear section of this aeronautics gem.
2 Rafales Dassault EC 3/30 flying over Latecoere’s centenary
To mark the occasion, Latecoere invited 100 voluntary employees, proud to represent the Group’s values and to make history. A moment immortalized by this photograph seen from the sky, bringing clients, partners and staff members and an impressive plane fleet forming a “100“ on the tarmac.
100 Latecoere employees, clients and partners for a souvenir photo
The Raid Latecoere is an air rally of 35 planes connecting Toulouse to Dakar, Sénégal since 2007. On the traces of the French airmail service’s history, the Raid also has a solidarity goal : to help local organizations in Africa with education and to discover aeronautics.
For the first time, a crew is entirely made of Latecoere employees, piloting a plane in the colors of the company. 15 staff members will one after another during the whole Raid, flying the company’s flag.
The Latecoere plane leaving Toulouse-Francazal
As part of solidary actions initiated by the company’s staff, the Latecoere airmail line supports an educational program for 4th and 5th grade children from Béouzo school at Fonsorbes. Pupils prepared letters for their penfriends of Sidi N’Diaye school in Saint-Louis, Sénégal. This mail will be transported aboard the Latecoere plane, handed in person by Yannick Assouad (CEO) to the crew.
Yannick Assouad handing the children’s mail over to the Latecoere’s crew.
