Originally Posted by
jrl767
a tag-on from HNL to Hilo (ITO) is ~200 miles, certainly short-haul by today's standards but probably less so in 1953 (and I missed your caveat about "no scheduled passenger service" which would disqualify ITO in any case)
if you're talking "short haul" being ~35 miles (which probably doesn't even warrant air service today anyway), I'd say Catalina Island (Avalon, AVX) is about the only possibility
9. Yep, it's Catalina Airport (AVX) a.k.a. Airport in the Sky. Note the harbor at Avalon was only served by seaplanes at the time as AVX is a bit of a drive on this very hilly island.
In 1953, United was operating two daily DC-3 flights on a round trip routing of LAX-LGB-AVX. The airport would later be served by Pacific Air Lines with DC-3s followed years later by Golden West with DHC-6 Twin Otter equipment. And last time I checked, AVX still had DC-3 service, although these flights do not carry passengers - only cargo.