Lufthansa helps Oktoberfest get off to a flying start with inflight beer kegs

Prost! The airline has been serving beer on tap during Oktoberfest since the 1960. Photo / Supplied, Lufthansa

As Oktoberfest begins this week in Munich, Germany's top-flight airline has been getting into the spirit of things.

Lufthansa announced that it will be hauling round kegs of draft beer on its drinks trolleys. This traditional Teutonic tipple will be served on flights out of Singapore and New York.

To serve beer at 30,000ft the German carrier had to design special kegs to deal with atmospheric pressure. Normally beer barrels would explode in a pressurised cabin, but this technical obstacle to getting a cold stein mass of beer midflight was overcome with typical ingenuity.

Blue Dirndl: Lufthansa crew and lounge staffmembers will also be decked out in traditional dress. Photo / Supplied, Lufthansa

The airline has been serving beer on tap since the 1960, but this year it has brought a whole Bavarian theme to its onboard catering.

Business class passengers can sample a taste of the Tyrol with favourites such as ox tartare, Thüringen truffle, Bayerisches Weisswurstchen.

Passengers touching down in Munich's international terminal this weekend will also get a flavour of the festival.

Lufthansa had to design special kegs to deal with atmospheric pressure. Photo / Supplied, Lufthansa

In preparation the airline has imported over 4000kg of Leberkaese, more than 38,000 pretzels and more than 680 kg of Weissewurst to stock up the flight lounges of Munich Airport.

Crew and lounge staff members will also be decked out in traditional dress. This consists of knee high Lederhosen for men and blue Dirndl women.