Christie, son flew to S.C. on what later was known as 'Chairman's Flight'

TRENTON - Gov. Chris Christie flew to South Carolina in 2013 on a United Airlines flight that was part of would later become known to the public as the “Chairman’s Flight,” a money-losing route to benefit his mentor and former Port Authority Chairman David Samson, his office confirmed Tuesday morning.

It had been reported in the Aiken Standard newspaper in January 2013 that Christie, along with son Andrew, visited Samson at his Aiken, South Carolina home. But NJ Advance Media reported Tuesday morning that it learned Christie traveled there on the nonstop route from Newark to South Carolina that was part of the “Chairman’s Flight” path.

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Christie’s office confirmed he took that route, but, according to spokeswoman Jacqueline Halldow, “the governor was not aware” that it had been reinstated by the airline as a political favor for Samson.

Samson pleaded guilty last month to using his position at the Port Authority as leverage to bribe the airline into restoring the flights from Newark to South Carolina. He called it the “Chairman’s Flight,” which was first reported by The Record.

Operating between 2012 and 2014, the direct flights departed Newark on Thursdays and returned from South Carolina on Mondays.

Brian Murray, a spokesman for Christie, said the governor did not take the traditional “Chairman’s Flight” on his 2013 trip to South Carolina. He left Newark for South Carolina on a nonstop United flight on a Sunday, Jan. 27. Christie, who typically flies on United, returned to New Jersey on Jan. 30, a Wednesday, on a nondirect flight, Murray said.

Christie was not the only official to take the flights. Members of the United State Attorney’s Office, which investigated and charged Samson – as well as Jamie Fox, a former United lobbyist and top Christie aide – also took the flights to attend training at the University of South Carolina, it told NJ Advance Media.