Araruama qualifies on a measured drive, not on a reputation. Rio de Janeiro Santos Dumont is 120 km from the centre, 1 hour 48 minutes by road, and it reaches 5 airports nonstop. Those are the two numbers that put the city on the list, and they are the numbers an offer is decided on.
Open · Brazil desk · Araruama
On Board Courier, Araruama
The Araruama courier list. 1 hour 48 minutes to SDU, 5 airports it reaches without a change, and a written fee for every assignment before you accept it.
OnBoard Courier is a United Arab Emirates company, contracted by ICSL FZE and run from Dubai. A city named on this site is a place we cover and route through, not a separate company in that city. Assignments are contracted under UAE law, and the terms are published in full under legal and policies.
Based inAraruama, Rio de Janeiro
Nearest gateSDU · Rio de Janeiro
Drive to the aircraft120 km · 1 hour 48 minutes
Nonstop from SDU5 airports
EngagementFreelance · per assignment
Fee per assignmentAED 900 to 2,600
Apply for this position
Applying is free. Freelance · self-employed ·
posted 7 September 2026 · open until 7 March 2027
What the work pays
The fee for an assignment is agreed with you in writing before you accept it. These are the figures the site publishes, and what the desk covers on top of them.
Top published feeAED 2,000The highest fee the site shows for a single assignment: sealed medical samples in a cooled case, Dubai to Singapore.
Published band, per assignmentAED 900 to 2,600A document pouch to London is AED 1,200, an aircraft part to Frankfurt AED 1,500, an escorted watch on the Berlin lane AED 1,800.
What the flight costs youAED 0The desk books and pays the ticket, the transfers and, where the routing needs it, the hotel. A courier never fronts the fare.
The one payment you makeAED 199, returnedThe Academy, paid once. It comes back in full on top of the fee for your first completed assignment. Applying itself is free.
Fees vary with the lane, the notice, the waiting time and whether the return is immediate, so the desk quotes each assignment individually rather than pretending one number fits every trip. You are self-employed and there is no minimum: accept or decline whatever you like, and declining costs you nothing. Earnings are paid per delivery by bank transfer, they appear in your courier portal, and you can request a payout once the balance reaches AED 200. Apply and see the flight board.
You fly as a passengerOne consignment in the cabin, one handover against signature. No warehouse, no van, no round.
The desk books and pays the ticketFlight, transfers and, where the routing needs it, a hotel are booked before you leave for the airport.
Paid per assignmentA fee agreed in writing before you accept, paid to your bank account after the signature. Applying is free.
How to start, in four steps
1
Apply once
One application covers every country desk. Tell us which passports you hold and where you can travel.
2
Verification and the Academy
Identity and background check, then a short course on customs, handovers and chain of custody.
3
Your first offer
The desk sends the routing, the dates and the fee in writing. You accept or decline, nothing is automatic.
4
Fly, hand over, get paid
Collect, board, clear customs in person, hand over against signature, and the fee is paid to your account.
The assignment
Nothing about a trip out of SDU is improvised. The routing, the consignee, the customs position and the return are settled before the desk calls Araruama. Where the routing runs through the Emirates it goes by way of GRU, on one ticket, with the connection booked long enough to be real. What is left to you is the drive, the flight and the handover.
Getting to the aircraft from Araruama
The road distance below is measured, not estimated: 120 km and 1 hour 48 minutes from the centre of Araruama to the terminal at SDU, by the fastest driving route.
1 hour 48 minutes on the road is a real commitment and the desk treats it as one. The offer will say when you need to leave Araruama, and an overnight near SDU is booked and paid for when the timings do not work otherwise. Araruama has more than one way out, which is unusual and useful. GIG at 1 hour 50 minutes adds 52 nonstop destinations to the 5 at SDU.
| IATA | Airport | By road | Driving time | Nonstop |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| SDU | Rio de Janeiro Santos Dumont | 120 km | 1 hour 48 minutes | 5 |
| GIG | Rio de Janeiro RIOgaleão-Tom Jobim | 123 km | 1 hour 50 minutes | 52 |
Araruama is a city of 138,000 people in Rio de Janeiro, and the clock there runs 7 hours behind the Emirates all year. Road distances are measured driving routes rather than straight lines, and nonstop counts come from the scheduled route data this site publishes. Only airports this site publishes a scheduled nonstop board for are listed, so a smaller field nearer Araruama may exist and still not appear in the table above.
What SDU reaches without a change
What matters about Rio de Janeiro Santos Dumont is where it goes without a change: 5 destinations in 1 countries. The busiest of them, by average daily flights out of SDU, are listed below.
| IATA | City | Airport | Frequency | Operators |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| CGH | São Paulo | São Paulo Congonhas | about 30 departures a day | 2 operators: Azul, GOL |
| BSB | Brasília | Brasília Presidente Juscelino Kubistschek | about 15 departures a day | 2 operators: GOL, LATAM |
| VCP | Campinas | Campinas Viracopos | about 9 departures a day | 1 operator: Azul |
| CNF | Belo Horizonte | Belo Horizonte Tancredo Neves | about 7 departures a day | 1 operator: Azul |
| GRU | São Paulo | São Paulo Guarulhos - Governador André Franco Montoro | about 3 departures a day | 1 operator: LATAM |
Counting every airport a courier in Araruama can drive to, the combined nonstop board is 53 airports. Frequencies are average daily flights and change with the season, so the desk checks the live schedule before it offers you anything.
What moves out of Araruama
No public industrial file exists here for Araruama, so none is claimed. Urgent hand carry demand in a city this size comes from deadlines, not from a single plant: a court filing, a machine that stopped, a batch that has to be tested.
Why a courier in Araruama is useful to the desk
The commercial case for a name in Araruama is subtraction. Without one, an urgent consignment out of Rio de Janeiro needs a positioning flight or a truck to a hub. With one it needs 1 hour 48 minutes of driving to SDU and a boarding pass.
The connection to Dubai from Araruama involves a change of aircraft. From Araruamthe best single change is São Paulo (GRU), and GRU to DXB is flown by Emirates, about one departure a day. Counting a normal connection that is around 17h 20m gate to gate, so an assignment between Araruama and the Emirates is planned as a connecting itinerary and the desk books the whole thing on one ticket.
The nearest other cities on the Brazil list
Show the 12 closest, and how far each is from Araruama
Cabo Frio32 km away, SDU in 2 hours 24 minutesMaricá49 km away, SDU in 1 hour 19 minutesRio das Ostras56 km away, SDU in 2 hours 29 minutesNova Friburgo68 km away, GIG in 2 hours 33 minutesMacaé79 km away, SDU in 2 hours 47 minutesTeresópolis83 km away, GIG in 1 hour 27 minutesRio de Janeiro86 km away, SDU in 6 minutesNova Iguaçu114 km away, GIG in 32 minutesItaguaí147 km away, GIG in 1 hour 1 minutesJuiz de Fora161 km away, GIG in 2 hours 32 minutesCampos dos Goytacazes162 km away, SDU in 4 hours 4 minutesVolta Redonda185 km away, GIG in 1 hour 54 minutes
All 97 Brazil cities are listed on the Brazil courier desk, which stays the general application for the country.
The engagement, and who we are looking for
The engagement
- Type: freelance, self-employed. You are an independent courier accepting individual assignments, not an employee, and you decide which ones you take.
- Where it runs: assignments are flown out of SDU and the other airports listed above, between Brazil and wherever the consignment is going, with the return leg agreed per mission.
- Hours: variable. An assignment is a single trip, not a shift or a roster.
- How you are paid: a fee per completed assignment, agreed in writing before you accept it. The fees published on this site run from AED 1,200 for a document pouch to AED 2,000 for a cooled medical consignment, and the figure for your assignment reflects the lane, the notice, the waiting time and whether the return is immediate.
- What the desk pays: the flight, the transfers and, where the routing needs it, the hotel. A courier never pays for the ticket and never fronts the fare.
- Applying is free. No payment is required to apply, to be screened or to be placed on the courier list. The Academy costs AED 199, paid once, and is returned in full on top of the fee for your first completed assignment. It is the only payment a courier ever makes to us.
What we look for
- A passport with comfortable remaining validity and free pages, and the right to enter the country on the routing. The desk checks the visa position for your specific passport before any assignment is offered.
- A clean background check and a willingness to be verified. Couriers carry other people’s property.
- Availability at short notice, and a realistic view of the 1 hour 48 minutes drive to SDU. Most assignments are confirmed hours, not days, before departure.
- Presentable, calm and articulate at a customs counter. The consignment is only as smooth as the person carrying it.
- A working phone, reachable on the number you gave us, for the whole assignment.
What we provide
- The ticket. Always. A courier never pays for the flight and never fronts the fare.
- The paperwork, prepared before you reach SDU, and a named contact at the desk on both ends.
- A briefing on the consignment, the consignee and what the customs position at the far end looks like.
- A fee per completed assignment, agreed with you in advance and paid by bank transfer after the handover.
Questions about the Araruama list
01How far is Araruama from SDU?
The route from Araruama to SDU runs 120 km and takes about 1 hour 48 minutes with clear roads. Traffic between Araruama and SDU is allowed for on top, and the desk pays for the parking or the transfer either way.
02What can I reach from Araruama without a change of aircraft?
SDU serves 5 airports nonstop across 1 countries with 3 operating carriers, and counting every gate a courier in Araruama can drive to, the combined nonstop board is 53 airports. That is the practical range of a single assignment from here before anybody has to connect.
03Getting from Araruama to the Emirates: nonstop or not?
From Araruamthe best single change is São Paulo (GRU), and GRU to DXB is flown by Emirates, about one departure a day. Counting a normal connection that is around 17h 20m gate to gate, so an assignment between Araruama and the Emirates is planned as a connecting itinerary and the desk books the whole thing on one ticket.
04Do I have to live in the UAE to be on this list?
No residence visa, no Emirates address and no relocation. A courier on this list lives in Araruama and flies out of SDU, which is exactly what the desk needs.
05Does it cost anything to apply?
Applying from Araruama is free and stays free. One payment exists in the whole process, the AED 199 Academy, and that amount is added back on top of the fee for your first completed assignment.
06How is my fee agreed?
The desk sends the routing, the timing and the fee for that specific assignment in writing. You accept or decline it. Nothing is deducted or charged without your written agreement.
Apply to fly out of SDU
If 120 km to SDU is a drive you would make for a paid trip, put your name down and see what comes through.
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