Don't have clothes, will travel

The concept of the mile-high club may be old hat by now, but watch out, here comes the mile-high nudist colony.

An American travel agency has announced plans to put on the world's first nudist flight, from Miami to Cancun in Mexico, in May of this year. If successful it could spark a whole new market for clothes free travel, providing they get the air-conditioning right.

Castaways Travel of Spring, Texas, who specialise in nudist holidays have chartered 172-seat Boeing 727 for the short trip across the Gulf of Mexico. The crew will be dressed and the temperature inside the plane's cabin will be regulated to accommodate the nudists, according to Castaways co-owner Jim Bailey.

"People are looking for stress relief," Bailey says. "In a nudist environment, everyone is the same."

The travellers will stay at a nudist resort for a week, then return to Miami on May 10. For the week's trip, including flights, clothes-shy tourists will be asked to pay around £,1000.

A spokeswoman for the US airways regulatory body, the Federal Aviation Administration, says there are no regulations specifically banning nudity aboard an aircraft as it is "not a safety issue".

Some issues are being addressed, however - no hot drinks or food will be served to nude passengers, who will be asked to keep a towel between themselves and the plane seat.