In a fabulous coincidence, if you prefer fables to scandal, United Airlines started a twice-weekly, money-losing flight to Columbia, S.C., that just happened to be handy for a powerful public official in New Jersey who had a weekend home nearby in Aiken.

A few days after the public official resigned from his position in March 2014, the airline canceled the flight.

Just one of those things.

Or for those with a bias for the plausible, there is the alternative version of how this flight came into being, first reported in February by The Record, and then elaborated in delectable detail this week by Bloomberg Business.

The flights are now part of a federal investigation into operatives of Gov. Chris Christie at the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey that began with the infamous traffic jam at the George Washington Bridge in September 2013.