Our history

Can you summarize, in a few lines, the genesis of this project? Where did you get this fascination with balloons, airships, and other flying objects?

Jérôme / I loved flying in a hot air balloon. I wanted to share my passion for the air with as many people as possible, without it costing them dearly.

Matthieu / We loved so much flying, that we had already set up our balloon club during our studies at École Polytechnique. So, at the exit of the Bridges and Roads, in 1993, we created the company: Aerophile was born!

What is Aerophile’s goal?
Which values ​​do you want to put forward?

Jérôme / We have a lot of fun installing our systems over sites that deserve to be discovered from the top and made accessible to all for a reasonable price. Our aerial vehicles really make it possible to discover the beauty of a site from the sky. In general, our customers always feel a little apprehensive before going up and are overcome by a feeling of beauty at the sight from above and then come down with a smile because they overcame a little fear in exchange for great joy while sharing this adventure with others.

Matthieu / The balloon is more than ever in the air. It is silent and non-polluting. It’s a unique way to discover your environment while respecting it. The balloon allows us to go further by equipping it with sensors that measure different pollutants of the air, to better understand and raise public awareness of this public health issue.

How do you envision Aerophile’s future?

Matthieu / We had the chance to install balloons in more than 40 countries, but there are still a lot of places to equip. The balloon is a way to sublimate the discovery of a site, and to make it more attractive. With our experience, we aim to equip new major tourist sites and discover new territories because we are convinced that it is in the interest of the sites and their visitors.

We are very proud to have manufactured and operated the magnificent balloon for the Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games, the brainchild of designer Mathieu Lehanneur. This large tethered balloon is identical to our other balloons, except that this time it wasn’t carrying passengers in a gondola, but the cauldron of the Olympic flame! It was seen by nearly 1.5 billion television viewers during the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games!

Jérôme / We are always looking to improve this experience of discovery from the sky in all its forms, with other types of vehicles for example. In 2008 we invented the Aerophare and then the Aerobar, our “aerial bar”, which was installed at the Futuroscope in 2013 and has since been installed at nearly fifteen sites around the world. We also created the Little Prince Park in 2014, an amusement park inspired by the works of Antoine de Saint-Exupéry and located in Alsace.

We also work a lot on the theme of air quality. Since 2013 the Paris Generali balloon has been measuring air pollution in the capital, in collaboration with AirParif, the Paris City Hall, Generali and the CNRS. This research work has led us to launch our latest innovation in 2021: the Para-PM, an innovative air purifier, adapted to open or semi-open spaces. The Aerophiltre, the variation of this innovation as a depolluting urban furniture, has been selected by SOLIDEO (Société de Livraison des Ouvrages Olympiques) to equip the Place des Athlètes in 2024 in Saint Denis.

Ecole Polytechnique’s Hot Air Balloon
Co-Founders Matthieu Gobbi and Jérôme Giacomoni
2014, Jérôme Giacomoni and Matthieu Gobbi at the opening of the Parc du petit Prince

Key dates

1992
The idea of ​​the captive balloon was born in the spirit of Jérôme Giacomoni and Matthieu Gobbi.
1993
Jérôme Giacomoni and Matthieu Gobbi create Aerophile S.A. and start designing the first thethered balloon of modern times.
1994
The first Aerophilic captive balloon takes off in Chantilly (France). Never, such a big gas balloon had been built for decades.
1999
Three new Aerophile captive balloons have been installed in France, including the big Paris balloon operated by Aerophile.
2005
Continuous innovation and a new captive balloon prototype is designed by Aerophile, the PanoraMagique, launched the same year at Disneyland Resort Paris.
2007
The co-founders imagine a new captive balloon system for shopping malls, the Aerophare, which has a powerful metal structure for the ascent and descent of the balloon. That year also marked the launch of the first balloon operated in the United States at Orange County Great Park, near Los Angeles.
2008
This is the launch of the Ballon Air de Paris, in partnership with the CNRS, to calculate in real time the air quality in Paris.
2009
Aerophile's large tethered balloon launches in the United States, in the largest amusement park in the world: Walt Disney World Resort, in Orlando, Florida.
2013
Jérôme Giacomoni and Matthieu Gobbi invented and launched the Aerobar, the first aerial bar in the world, installed at the Futuroscope to allow as many people as possible to enjoy this attraction. This year also marks the recovery of the Safari Park Balloon from the San Diego Zoo.
2014
After the success of captive balloon operations, the co-founders finally opened their own amusement park, the Parc du Petit Prince, the first air park in the world, in Alsace.
2017
Aerophile’s activities welcomed more than 500,000 visitors in 2017, and 200,000 visitors to the Petit Prince Park the same year.
2018
Aerophile is working on a research and development project to test a new outdoor air purification system. It also took over the Angkor balloon in Cambodia and acquired a hotel and restaurants near the Parc du Petit Prince.
2021
The Para-PM, an innovative system for capturing particulates matters, adapted to outdoor or semi-open spaces, is officially launched. This new generation air purifier has been selected by SOLIDEO (Société de Livraison des Ouvrages Olympiques) to equip the Paris 2024 Athletes' Village in Saint-Denis.
2022
"Liftoff," the first Aerobar in the United States, is located in Las Vegas within Area15. It will be followed by a second one in Biloxi, Mississippi, in early 2023.
2023
Aerophile is celebrating its 30th anniversary! The Para-PM was tested for a year at a school in the 9th arrondissement of Paris. The results: an average 30% reduction in fine-particle pollution in the school playground.
2024
Aerophile is present at the Paris 2024 Olympics: it's the Aerophile balloon that raises the Olympic flame into the Paris sky every evening from the Tuileries Gardens! The Aerophiltres, depolluting shades incorporating Para-PM technology, are installed at the Athletes' Village in Saint-Denis.
2025
Building on its popular success at the Olympic Games, the cauldron-balloon will return to the Tuileries every summer for 3 months in 2025, 2026 and 2027, operated by Aerophile. The Parc du Petit Prince is sold to the Polish group Ptak.
To date, Aerophile has installed more than 120 balloons and around fifteen Aerobars in nearly 40 countries. The company operates 7 sites around the world and carries more than a million passengers every year.