What the desk actually needs from Xi’an is proximity to a gate. An assignment appears when something has to leave Shaanxi by a deadline no freight product will promise. The question is then very simple: who is close enough to XIY to check in for the next departure. From Xi’an that is 29 minutes of driving, which is why the city is on the list at all.
Open · China desk · Xi’an
On Board Courier, Xi’an
Freelance hand carry work for couriers who live in Xi’an. XIY is 29 minutes away by road, the desk books and pays the seat, and the fee is agreed in writing before you accept.
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 inXi’an, Shaanxi
Nearest gateXIY · Xianyang
Drive to the aircraft36 km · 29 minutes
Nonstop from XIY147 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
Most assignments out of XIY are confirmed hours, not days, in advance. You are given the flight, the consignee and the customs position in writing, you drive to XIY, and the ticket is already paid and issued in your name. 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. The handover is in person, and the fee reaches your account after it.
Getting to the aircraft from Xi’an
From the middle of Xi’an to the departure hall at XIY is 36 km of road, 29 minutes in normal conditions. Every timing the desk gives a courier in Xi’an starts from that number.
The ground leg from Xi’an barely counts as one. 29 minutes to XIY means the desk can ring you and still make a departure the same evening. A single gate serves Xi’an. When XIY has no suitable departure the assignment waits or goes to another city, which is worth knowing before you join the list.
| IATA | Airport | By road | Driving time | Nonstop |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| XIY | Xianyang Xi'an | 36 km | 29 minutes | 147 |
Xi’an is a city of 13 million people in Shaanxi, 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 XIY reaches without a change
The board at XIY carries 147 nonstop destinations flown by 41 carriers. The table below is the busiest end of the XIY board, measured in average daily flights rather than in marketing.
| IATA | City | Airport | Frequency | Operators |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| CAN | Guangzhou | Guangzhou Baiyun | about 23 departures a day | 5 operators: China Eastern, Hainan Airlines, China Southern |
| SZX | Shenzhen | Shenzhen Bao'an | about 22 departures a day | 6 operators: China Eastern, Hainan Airlines, China Southern |
| KMG | Kunming | Kunming Changshui | about 21 departures a day | 6 operators: China Eastern, Hainan Airlines |
| URC | Ürümqi | Ürümqi Diwopu | about 20 departures a day | 6 operators: China Eastern, Hainan Airlines, China Southern |
| SHA | Shanghai | Shanghai Hongqiao | about 20 departures a day | 3 operators: China Eastern, Spring Airlines |
| PKX | Beijing | Beijing Daxing | about 18 departures a day | 3 operators: China Eastern, China Southern |
| HGH | Hangzhou | Hangzhou Xiaoshan | about 18 departures a day | 6 operators: China Eastern, Hainan Airlines, Air China |
| PEK | Beijing | Beijing Capital | about 15 departures a day | 2 operators: Hainan Airlines, Air China |
| UYN | Yulin | Yulin | about 14 departures a day | 5 operators: China Eastern |
| CSX | Changsha | Changsha Huanghua | about 14 departures a day | 6 operators: China Eastern, Hainan Airlines, China Southern |
Counting every airport a courier in Xi’an can drive to, the combined nonstop board is 147 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 Xi’an
There is no published industrial map for the XIY area on this site, and a page that made one up would be worthless. The traffic out of Xi’an is the normal kind: documents that have to be witnessed, parts that stopped something, and samples with a clock on them.
Why a courier in Xi’an is useful to the desk
A courier based in Xi’an is useful to a Dubai desk for a reason that has nothing to do with Xi’an being famous. It is that the desk can position a person at XIY inside 29 minutes of a phone call, and XIY has somewhere to send them.
Honesty about the routing out of XIY matters more than a good headline. From Xi’an 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 30m gate to gate, so an assignment between Xi’an 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 Xi’an
Chongqing568 km away, CKG in 20 minutesChengdu606 km away, CTU in 23 minutesWuhan646 km away, WUH in 35 minutesHefei822 km away, NKG in 2 hours 12 minutesTianjin913 km away, TSN in 17 minutesNanjing948 km away, NKG in 33 minutesYangzhou997 km away, NKG in 1 hour 32 minutesWuxi1101 km away, SHA in 1 hour 31 minutesSuzhou1138 km away, SHA in 1 hour 5 minutesHangzhou1143 km away, HGH in 38 minutesKunming1187 km away, KMG in 22 minutesPudong1222 km away, SHA in 18 minutes
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 XIY, 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 29 minutes drive to XIY. 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 XIY, 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 Xi’an list
01How far is Xi’an from XIY?
36 km, about 29 minutes by car from Xi’an. The desk works backwards from the bag drop at XIY, so the time it asks you to leave will look conservative and is meant to.
02What can I reach from Xi’an without a change of aircraft?
XIY serves 147 airports nonstop across 19 countries with 41 operating carriers, and counting every gate a courier in Xi’an can drive to, the combined nonstop board is 147 airports. That is the practical range of a single assignment from here before anybody has to connect.
03Getting from Xi’an to the Emirates: nonstop or not?
From Xi’an 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 30m gate to gate, so an assignment between Xi’an 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. OnBoard Courier is a UAE company and the desk is in Dubai, but the courier list is worldwide. Living in Xi’an, 29 minutes from XIY, is a qualification rather than an obstacle.
05Does it cost anything to apply?
No. There is no fee to join the Xi’an list and no deposit of any kind. The Academy is AED 199 once, and that AED 199 is added back on top of what you are paid 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 XIY
Apply once and you are on the list for XIY and for every other lane your passport allows. Declining an offer out of XIY costs you nothing.
Apply for this positionSee all openingsThe XIY atlas entry · The China courier desk · China country guide · All courier openings · Apply to the courier network