What is being moved is small and the deadline is not. A sealed pouch, a boxed part, a cooled sample. The volume never justifies a charter and the clock never allows a network, so a person flies with it out of SDU. From Rio das Ostras that person drives 170 km to SDU and boards.
Open · Brazil desk · Rio das Ostras
On Board Courier, Rio das Ostras
Courier work for Rio das Ostras, run from Dubai. Rio de Janeiro Santos Dumont is 170 km away by road, the desk books the ticket, and you decide which assignments you take.
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 inRio das Ostras, Rio de Janeiro
Nearest gateSDU · Rio de Janeiro
Drive to the aircraft170 km · 2 hours 29 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
You will spend more of the assignment on the ground than in the air: 170 km from Rio das Ostras to SDU, the check in, the wait, the clearance at the other end. 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. The fee is calculated on all of that rather than on the flying hours.
Getting to the aircraft from Rio das Ostras
A measured route rather than a guess. Rio das Ostras to SDU is 170 km and 2 hours 29 minutes, and every airport in the table below was measured the same way so the lines can be compared.
At 2 hours 29 minutes the drive from Rio das Ostras is the risky half of the trip, so it is planned rather than assumed: an earlier departure from home, and where the flight is early, a room near SDU paid by the desk. The desk will send you to GIG when the routing is better from there. It is 2 hours 30 minutes from Rio das Ostras and carries 52 nonstop destinations, and the offer always names the airport before you accept.
| IATA | Airport | By road | Driving time | Nonstop |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| SDU | Rio de Janeiro Santos Dumont | 170 km | 2 hours 29 minutes | 5 |
| GIG | Rio de Janeiro RIOgaleão-Tom Jobim | 173 km | 2 hours 30 minutes | 52 |
Rio das Ostras is a city of 168,000 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 Rio das Ostras may exist and still not appear in the table above.
What SDU reaches without a change
SDU is not a name on a map to this desk, it is a departure board. The network file the site publishes shows 5 airports served nonstop from SDU, across 1 countries, by 3 operating carriers.
| 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 Rio das Ostras 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 Rio das Ostras
This site keeps a public register of industrial sites for some airports, and SDU is not one of them. Rather than guess, the honest statement is that assignments from Rio das Ostras are driven by deadlines rather than by any one factory: contracts, components, samples and valuables.
Why a courier in Rio das Ostras is useful to the desk
The honest version is that some months Rio das Ostras produces nothing and some weeks it produces three assignments. What makes a Rio das Ostras courier worth keeping on the list is that when the call comes, 170 km is a distance that can be covered before check in closes.
SDU does not fly to the Emirates directly. From Rio das Ostras the 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 Rio das Ostras 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 Rio das Ostras
Macaé23 km away, SDU in 2 hours 47 minutesCabo Frio41 km away, SDU in 2 hours 24 minutesAraruama56 km away, SDU in 1 hour 48 minutesNova Friburgo66 km away, GIG in 2 hours 33 minutesMaricá100 km away, SDU in 1 hour 19 minutesTeresópolis107 km away, GIG in 1 hour 27 minutesCampos dos Goytacazes107 km away, SDU in 4 hours 4 minutesRio de Janeiro134 km away, SDU in 6 minutesNova Iguaçu157 km away, GIG in 32 minutesJuiz de Fora168 km away, GIG in 2 hours 32 minutesItaguaí191 km away, GIG in 1 hour 1 minutesVolta Redonda222 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 2 hours 29 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 Rio das Ostras list
01How far is Rio das Ostras from SDU?
About 2 hours 29 minutes, 170 km by road. The desk has that number for every city on the list and uses it to decide who gets called for a departure out of SDU tonight.
02What can I reach from Rio das Ostras without a change of aircraft?
SDU serves 5 airports nonstop across 1 countries with 3 operating carriers, and counting every gate a courier in Rio das Ostras 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 Rio das Ostras to the Emirates: nonstop or not?
From Rio das Ostras the 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 Rio das Ostras 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. The desk is in Dubai and the company is Emirati, but the courier list is worldwide and Rio das Ostras is on it. Where you live changes which assignments you are shown, not whether you qualify.
05Does it cost anything to apply?
There is no application fee, no placement fee and no deposit, in Rio das Ostras or anywhere else. The AED 199 Academy is the single payment, and it is returned in full with your first assignment fee.
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
The form asks where you live in Rio das Ostras, which passports you hold and how fast you can reach SDU. That is most of the qualification.
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