A German travel company will offer nudist flights this summer for naturists who want to bare all even before they hit the beach.

The travel agency, Makotel GmbH, is selling the flights through OssiUrlaub.de. "Ossi" is a nick-name for east German people, who favour nudism more than those in the west, and "Urlaub" means holiday.

The company is offering a trial day trip on July 5 flying from Erfurt in eastern Germany to the Baltic Sea coastal resort of Usedom, on the border of Germany and Poland. If demand is strong it hopes to offer regular services.

The 50 nudist passengers will pass through the airport clothed and undress before embarking. The cabin crew will remain clothed "for safety reasons".

The launch of the service is a reaction to demand from followers of Germany's Freikorperkultur movement, or FKK, which advocates nudism, and is the acronym used on signs to denote nudist beaches and holiday resorts in Germany.

The flight will cost E499 per passenger and bookings will be accepted from Feburary 1. The 34-year-old managing director of OssiUrlaub, Enrico Hess says he's not a nudist himself, but was given the idea by his customers.

Commenting on the price he said: “It’s expensive, I know. It’s because the plane’s very small. There’s no real reason why a flight in which one flies naked should be more expensive than any other.”

In a statement on the company's website, which has been translated from German, Hess said: "Free body culture was a favorite type of holiday in the old GDR. We want to make this freedom available over the clouds."

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