WASHINGTON--The "chairman's flight" will cost United Airlines another $2.4 million.

The airline, in an agreement with the Securities and Exchange Commission announced Friday, settled charges in connection with a money-losing direct flight between Newark Liberty International Airport and South Carolina launched to curry favor with then-Port Authority Chairman David Samson--who wanted a quicker way to get to his vacation home.

The airline has already paid more than $2.2 million in fines as part of the criminal investigation into the special flight.

Samson, a former state attorney general and confidante of Gov. Chris Christie, pleaded guilty to bribery charges in July, admitting he used his clout to coerce United to put the route back on its schedule.

The flight from Newark Liberty International Airport to Columbia, S.C., was restarted in 2012 after Samson became chairman of the Port Authority and became known as "the chairman's flight." It was canceled within days after he resigned in 2014.

"United disregarded the books and records and internal accounting controls provisions of the securities laws while casting aside its normal decision process to re-enter one of its hub's poorest performing markets," said Andrew Ceresney, director of the SEC's Division of Enforcement.

A spokeswoman for United said only the company was "pleased to resolve this matter."

In a cease-and-desist order filed by the SEC, regulators said United "circumvented its standard process for initiating new routes, and no corporate record at United accurately and fairly reflected the authorization to approve the money-losing flight route."

At the same time, the SEC said airline failed to design and maintain a system of internal accounting controls to prevent its officers from approving the use of United's assets in connection with the route, in violation of United's policies--which "prohibited the use of assets for corrupt purposes."

The route, which was rarely filled, ultimately lost approximately $945,000 before it was grounded. The SEC said the airline's shareholders picked up the cost.

According to the SEC, the flight had previously experienced poor financial performance and was canceled by Continental Airlines prior to its merger with United. After Samson began privately lobbying for the return of the flight, the airline's own financial analysis concluded it would likely lose money again.

In fact, in the SEC order, it noted that on September 21, 2011, a managing director in United's Network Planning Group informed a member of the airline's Government Affairs Group that the route from Newark Liberty to Columbia "was continually one of the hub's poorest performing markets" before its cancellation in 2009.

But the SEC said United officials and its then-CEO Jeff Smisek, feared Samson's influence as chairman of the Port Authority, which operates Newark Liberty, LaGuardia and Kennedy International airports, could jeopardize United's business interests--including the approval of a hangar project to help the airline at Newark.

Samson, who pleaded guilty to one charge of bribery, admitted that he "let it be known that the flight.. made it more convenient" for him to get to his country estate in Aiken, S.C. He said he had removed from the Port Authority's agenda a plan by United to build its proposed hangar for wide-body airplanes, after being told United was not planning to reinstate the route.

The company ultimately agreed to put the route back into service and the Port Authority's board approved the lease agreement related to the hangar project. United employees were told "no proactive communications" about the new route, the SEC said.

David Samson leaves federal court in Newark in July after pleading guilty to using his clout to coerce one of the nation's largest airlines to accommodate his desire for a non-stop flight to his South Carolina summer home. (Robert Sciarrino | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com)

Samson acknowledged that he referred to the route as "the chairman's flight," and that he took it about 27 times through 2013. Christie also was a passenger at least once to visit Samson, although the governor's office said the he had no knowledge of the circumstances that led to the flight.

United was never criminally charged in the Samson investigation, but entered into a non-prosecution agreement with the U.S. Attorney's office and agreed to pay a fine of $2.25 million, pledging to institute "substantial reforms" to its compliance program. Smisek was forced to step down as CEO after an internal United investigation.

The Samson case grew out of the Bridgegate scandal that recently saw two members of the governor's inner circle convicted of shutting down toll lanes at the George Washington Bridge in a scheme of political retribution. Samson was never charged in the case, but the United shakedown came to light during the investigation.

Samson, 77, is now scheduled to appear before U.S. District Judge Jose Linares in Newark on Jan. 5, at 11 a.m. for sentencing. He faces a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000.

Ted Sherman may be reached at tsherman@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @TedShermanSL. Facebook: @TedSherman.reporter. Find NJ.com on Facebook.