Groupe Latécoère

The Groupe Latécoère is an aircraft company based in Toulouse, France. Founded by Pierre-Georges Latécoère in 1917, the company was known in the past particularly for its seaplanes. Today, the group is a major supplier of sections of aircraft fuselage and doors and is the second-largest European supplier of onboard electrical wire harnesses and avionics bays with its Latelec subsidiary company.

The group is currently a member of the CAC Small 90, and participates in all segments of aeronautics: commercial aircraft with Airbus and Boeing, regional planes with Embraer and Bombardier, business aircraft with Dassault Aviation, and military aircraft with Dassault and Airbus.

In 2000, Groupe Latécoère bought Czech aircraft company Letov Kbely.

In 2006, the group employed 3,412 people and its annual sales was €432 million.

Aircraft products

* Latécoère 26
* Latécoère 28
* Latécoère 29
* Latécoère 298
* Latécoère 300
* Latécoère 521
* Latécoère 522
* Latécoère 631

Missile products for the French Navy

* Malaface
* Malafon

Current products

* Airbus A330 A340 (mid-fuselage upper shell)
* Airbus A340/500-600 (mid-fuselage upper shell and lower nose section)
* Airbus A380 (passenger doors, bulk cargo doors and lower nose section)
* Airbus A320 (passenger doors)
* Boeing 787 (passenger doors)
* Bombardier CRJ 700/900 (bulk cargo door)
* Embraer ERJ 170/175/190/195 (passenger doors, emergency exit door and forward and aft fuselage barrel section)
* Dassault Falcon 50 EX (Rear fuselage section)
* Dassault Falcon 7X (baggage door and rear fuselage section)
* Dassault Falcon 900 B/EX (Rear fuselage section)

[http://www.latecoere.fr/eaerostruc_.html Source]

Current leadership

* Chairman of the Supervisory Board: François Junca
* President and CEO: François Bertrand
* CFO: Jean-Jacques Pignères

In popular culture

The name Latécoère is part of a "mystique" in France around the beginning of aviation and adventurers. It was part of a famous song by Keren Ann, "Jardin d'Hiver", in its 3rd verse :

:"Je voudrais du Fred Astaire:Revoir un Latécoère:Je voudrais toujours te plaire:Dans mon jardin d'hiver"

A possibly even more popular (and arguably very gross) reference is found in "Lola Rastaquouère", a song by Serge Gainsbourg, a famous and controversial French artist:

:"Comment oses-tu me parler d'amour toi, hein:Toi qui n'as pas connu Lola Rastaquouère:Je lui faisais le plein comme au Latécoère:Qui décolle en vibrant vers les cieux africains"

Latécoère is mentioned by name in the first sentence of Antoine de Saint Exupéry's famous autobiographical work, Wind, Sand, and Stars, (1936) - from the English translation:

"In 1926 I was enrolled as student airline pilot by the Latécoère Company, the predecessors of Aéropostale (now Air France) in the operation of the line between Toulouse, in southwestern France, and Dakar, in French West Africa."

External links

* [http://www.latecoere.fr/ehomepag.html Company official site]
* [http://finance.google.com/finance?q=EPA:LAT Profile] on Google Finance.