New York: Lockheed passenger jet makes Times Square debut as converted bar

A vintage plane that went from flying passengers in the 1950s to running drugs in the 1970s visited Times Square on Saturday before its next transformation into a cocktail lounge at the former TWA terminal at Kennedy Airport.

The fuselage of the 1958 Lockheed Constellation is spending the weekend in Times Square as part of an upcoming documentary about the redevelopment of Eero Saarinen's landmark TWA Flight Center into a hotel.

Permission to land: the Lockheed Constellation L-1649A was parked up in New York's busiest junction. Photo / Mary Altaffer, AP

The plane arrived in New York in November from Maine, where it was being restored.

It was trucked Friday night from Kennedy Airport to Times Square, where the same model plane was featured in an eight-story billboard in the late 1950s.

The Constellation, known as Connie, flew for TWA for three years before it was forced into retirement by the Boeing 707. It was later used as an Alaskan bush plane and then was used as a marijuana dropper by South American drug traffickers.

The plane was bought last year by MCR/MORSE Development, the developers of the soon-to-open TWA Hotel.

Stunt: The plane is to be resurrected as a cocktail bar eventually in JFK airport. Photo / Mary Altaffer, AP

MCR CEO Tyler Morse said the vintage plane will serve as a cocktail lounge at the hotel.

"We're trying to recreate the theater of the hotel and make it a special experience," he said Saturday.

Cabin crew: Actors pose next to the plane parked in New York's Times Square. Photo / Mary Altaffer, AP

The 512-room TWA Hotel is scheduled to open in May and will be the only hotel on the airport's grounds.

It is intended as an homage to the era when Saarinen's gull-winged TWA Flight Center opened in 1962. The terminal closed in 2001 when TWA was acquired by American Airlines.

Jet age: Tyler Morse of MCR, left, and Hotel Trades Council President Peter Ward pose next to 'Connie' on the way to becoming a cocktail lounge. Photo / Mary Altaffer, AP

Mayor Bill de Blasio, who joined Morse at an event to welcome the vintage plane to Times Square, said the landmark TWA terminal is "going to be a vibrant hotel and conference space, and part of our city again."

Parking violation: A traffic ticket has been placed on the window of the jet plane. Photo / Mary Altaffer, AP