Photos: Rallye Toulouse–Saint Louis du Sénégal
4 September 2025
If you’re around Toulouse this September, look up. On Saturday 20 September, a fleet of 24 light aircraft will line up at Toulouse-Lasbordes airfield and head south on one of aviation’s most evocative journeys: the Rallye Toulouse–Saint Louis du Sénégal.
This isn’t just another fly-out. It’s the 41st running of the world’s longest-established air rally, a 10,000km adventure that traces the route of the old Latécoère and Aéropostale mail flights — the same skies flown by Saint-Exupéry, Mermoz and Guillaumet.
And this year, it’s extra special. June marked the centenary of the first Toulouse–Dakar service, the flight that opened France’s first long-haul, transcontinental link.
At the departure ceremony, two very different machines will set the scene. First, the Bréguet XIV F-POST, the only flying replica of the type that first carried mail — and later passengers — from Toulouse to Africa.
Alongside it will be something at the other end of aviation’s timeline: Aura Aero’s Integral E, a two-seat, 100% electric trainer and aerobatic aircraft, fresh from its first public flight at the Paris Air Show.
The Bréguet is all wood, fabric and romance; the Integral is carbon fibre, lithium batteries and a hint of the future. Together they’ll perform a symbolic fly-by before the rally crews launch.
The rally’s first stop is Alicante, then the route winds across Morocco, into the Sahara, through Mauritania and on to Senegal. There are 14 stages in total, and each is different.
At Tarfaya (Cap Juby), Saint-Exupéry once served as station chief, scribbling notes that would become Southern Mail. Crews here will bed down under traditional desert jaïma tents. In Dakar, there’ll be centenary celebrations at the Jean Mermoz Aeroclub.
And at the finish in Saint-Louis, children from the city flock out each year to meet the arriving aircraft, many rewarded with their first flight in an aeroplane.
The rally isn’t just about flying. Since the 1980s, crews have brought along supplies — schoolbooks, medical equipment, tools — to donate en route.
A bigger initiative now links Saint-Louis Hospital with Toulouse’s IUCT-Oncopole cancer centre, enabling an annual exchange of doctors and nurses. Since 2013, more than 40 tonnes of medical kit have made their way to Senegal, by rally aircraft, Airbus deliveries, or even shipping containers.
This year’s field includes crews from France, Germany, Switzerland, Luxembourg, and the US. Before departure, everyone gathers at L’Envol des Pionniers, the Toulouse museum dedicated to the Latécoère and Aéropostale story, for the safety briefing and a launch party on Friday 19 September.
