Every assignment starts with an airport, and yours is SHA. The desk holds a consignment that is late, valuable or perishable, finds the first departure that fits, and then looks for a courier who can be at the counter in time. Wuxi is 1 hour 31 minutes out, which puts you inside the window for most of 60 nonstop destinations.
On Board Courier, Wuxi
If you are in Wuxi you are 1 hour 31 minutes from Shanghai Hongqiao and 60 scheduled nonstop destinations. That is the whole starting qualification. Freelance, per assignment, ticket paid.
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.
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.
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.
How to start, in four steps
Apply once
One application covers every country desk. Tell us which passports you hold and where you can travel.
Verification and the Academy
Identity and background check, then a short course on customs, handovers and chain of custody.
Your first offer
The desk sends the routing, the dates and the fee in writing. You accept or decline, nothing is automatic.
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
There is no roster and no shift on the Wuxi list. An assignment is a single trip: accept the offer, collect, drive 128 km to SHA, board, land, clear, hand over. Where the routing runs through the Emirates it goes by way of PEK, on one ticket, with the connection booked long enough to be real. Then you go home or you wait for a return leg, and the desk books and pays for either.
Getting to the aircraft from Wuxi
The ground leg from Wuxi is 128 km to Shanghai Hongqiao, about 1 hour 31 minutes. Where a second airport is within reach of Wuxi it is listed too, because the desk will use whichever one has the flight.
128 km is a long ground leg by the standards of this list. At 1 hour 31 minutes the desk treats the drive as part of the assignment, plans it explicitly, and will book you into a hotel by SHA the night before rather than gamble on an early start. Wuxi has more than one way out, which is unusual and useful. NKG at 1 hour 48 minutes adds 85 nonstop destinations to the 60 at SHA.
| IATA | Airport | By road | Driving time | Nonstop |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| SHA | Shanghai Hongqiao | 128 km | 1 hour 31 minutes | 60 |
| NKG | Nanjing Lukou | 151 km | 1 hour 48 minutes | 85 |
| PVG | Shanghai Pudong | 179 km | 2 hours 8 minutes | 206 |
| HGH | Hangzhou Xiaoshan | 189 km | 2 hours 29 minutes | 117 |
Wuxi is a city of 4.4 million people in Jiangsu, and the clock there runs 4 hours ahead of 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.
What SHA reaches without a change
Scheduled reach from Shanghai Hongqiao: 60 nonstop destinations, 6 countries, 24 operating carriers. Frequencies below are average daily flights from the site’s own route data.
| IATA | City | Airport | Frequency | Operators |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| SZX | Shenzhen | Shenzhen Bao'an | about 46 departures a day | 6 operators: China Eastern, Spring Airlines, China Southern |
| CAN | Guangzhou | Guangzhou Baiyun | about 45 departures a day | 6 operators: China Eastern, China Southern, Air China |
| PEK | Beijing | Beijing Capital | about 38 departures a day | 3 operators: China Eastern, Air China, Hainan Airlines |
| XMN | Xiamen | Xiamen Gaoqi | about 22 departures a day | 6 operators: China Eastern, Spring Airlines, XiamenAir |
| XIY | Xianyang | Xianyang Xi'an | about 19 departures a day | 4 operators: China Eastern, Spring Airlines |
| CTU | Chengdu | Chengdu Shuangliu | about 16 departures a day | 5 operators: China Eastern, Spring Airlines, Air China |
| URC | Ürümqi | Ürümqi Diwopu | about 16 departures a day | 6 operators: China Eastern, Spring Airlines, China Southern |
| KMG | Kunming | Kunming Changshui | about 15 departures a day | 5 operators: China Eastern, Spring Airlines |
| CKG | Chongqing | Chongqing Jiangbei | about 14 departures a day | 5 operators: China Eastern, Spring Airlines, Air China |
| TAO | Qingdao | Qingdao Jiaodong | about 12 departures a day | 3 operators: China Eastern, Shandong Airlines |
Counting every airport a courier in Wuxi can drive to, the combined nonstop board is 230 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 Wuxi
No public industrial file exists here for Wuxi, 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 Wuxi is useful to the desk
Hand carry is a business of catchments, and Wuxi is inside one. Wuxi sits inside the catchment of Shanghai Hongqiao, 128 km out, which means a consignment collected in the city in the morning is airborne the same day rather than the next one.
The connection to Dubai from Wuxi involves a change of aircraft. From Wuxi the best single change is Beijing (PEK), and PEK to DXB is flown by Emirates, about 2 departures a day. Counting a normal connection that is around 10h 41m gate to gate, so an assignment between Wuxi 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 China list
Show the 12 closest, and how far each is from Wuxi
All 22 China cities are listed on the China 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 SHA and the other airports listed above, between China 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 31 minutes drive to SHA. 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 SHA, 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 Wuxi list
01How far is Wuxi from SHA?
1 hour 31 minutes and 128 km on a measured route. Whether that is a comfortable drive depends on the hour, so the offer names the time you should leave Wuxi rather than only the departure time.
02What can I reach from Wuxi without a change of aircraft?
SHA serves 60 airports nonstop across 6 countries with 24 operating carriers, and counting every gate a courier in Wuxi can drive to, the combined nonstop board is 230 airports. That is the practical range of a single assignment from here before anybody has to connect.
03Getting from Wuxi to the Emirates: nonstop or not?
From Wuxi the best single change is Beijing (PEK), and PEK to DXB is flown by Emirates, about 2 departures a day. Counting a normal connection that is around 10h 41m gate to gate, so an assignment between Wuxi 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 company is Emirati and the coordination happens in Dubai, but couriers live in places like Wuxi. The Wuxi list exists because somebody has to be near SHA when a consignment appears in Jiangsu.
05Does it cost anything to apply?
It is free to apply from Wuxi and free to be screened. The one charge anywhere in the process is the AED 199 Academy, paid once and refunded on top of 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 SHA
Put your name down for Wuxi. There is no cost to apply from Wuxi, no minimum, and no obligation to accept anything you are offered.
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