Feb. 06--Chicago-based United Airlines confirmed Friday it has received a subpoena in connection with an investigation about the personal flights a former New York-area Port Authority chairman took on United to his home in South Carolina.
A report late Thursday by the New Jersey newspaper, The Record, said federal prosecutors issued a subpoena for the personal travel records of David Samson, former chairman of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey.
The paper said the subpoena "appears to be part of a probe into a flight route initiated by United while Samson was chairman of the transportation agency that operates the region's airports."
The nonstop route on United's regional carrier was between Newark and an airport in Columbia, S.C., about 50 miles from a home where Samson often spent weekends with his wife, The Record reported.
Flights on the 50-seat plane were on average only half-full, and Samson referred to the twice-weekly route as "the chairman's flight," The Record quoted an unidentified source as saying.
United stopped the flight on April 1, 2014, just three days after Samson resigned, the paper reported.
"United has received subpoenas for information and is cooperating. United has no further comment," United spokeswoman Megan McCarthy told the Tribune.
gkarp@tribpub.com
Twitter @spendingsmart
