Aéropostale

The beginning

Aéropostale founder Pierre-Georges Latécoère envisioned an air route connecting France to the French colonies in Africa and South America. The company's activities were to specialise in, but were by no means restricted to Airmail|airborne postal services. The company was formed on December 25, 1918.

Between 1921 and 1927 it operated as Compagnie Générale d'Entreprises Aéronautiques (CGEA). In 1924, Jean Mermoz established a route between Toulouse and Barcelona in Spain, flying over the Pyrenees. In 1926, a route was added from Casablanca, Morocco, flying over Sahara desert to Dakar, Senegal, from where the mail was shipped by steamer to South America. The first non-stop flight between Toulouse and Saint-Louis (Senegal) began in 1927.

After troubles with its planes, due to long flights to South America, in April 1927 Latécoère decided to sell 93% of his business to a Brazilian-based French businessman named Marcel Bouilloux-Lafont. Using these assets Bouilloux-Lafont then founded the Compagnie Générale Aéropostale, better known as Aéropostale.

Aéropostale

In November 1927 regular flights between Rio de Janeiro and Natal were started. Expansion then continued to Paraguay and in July 1929 a regularly scheduled route across the Andes Mountains to Santiago, Chile, was started, later extending down to Tierra del Fuego in the Southern part of Chile. Finally, on May 12–13, 1930, the trip across the South Atlantic by air finally took place: a Latécoère 28 mail plane fitted with floats and a 650 horsepower (480 kW) Hispano-Suiza engine made the first nonstop flight. Aéropostale pilot Jean Mermoz flew 3,058 kilometres (1,900 mi) from Dakar to Natal in 19 hours, 35 minutes, with his plane transporting 122 kilograms (269 lb) of mail.

Aéropostale was dissolved in 1932 and merged with a number of other aviation companies (Air Orient, Société Générale de Transport Aérien, Air Union, and Compagnie Internationale de Navigation) to create Air France.

Among the aircraft operated by the two airlines were:

Blériot 5190

One hundred Breguet 14s

Farman F.70, for passenger and mail routes between Casablanca and Dakar and also from Algiers to Biskra.