Santa Marta earns a posting because of what CTG can do on a bad day. 19 nonstop destinations and 14 carriers give the desk somewhere to rebook when a flight goes, and 3 hours 16 minutes of driving gives you time to make the replacement. Redundancy is why Santa Marta gets called and a city with one thin airport does not.
Open · Colombia desk · Santa Marta
On Board Courier, Santa Marta
A place on the courier list for Santa Marta. Nearest usable gate CTG, 3 hours 16 minutes by road, 19 scheduled nonstop destinations, and a fee agreed before you say yes.
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 inSanta Marta, Magdalena Department
Nearest gateCTG · Cartagena de Indias
Drive to the aircraft220 km · 3 hours 16 minutes
Nonstop from CTG19 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 are not carrying freight out of CTG, you are carrying one item as your own accompanied baggage in the cabin, under a written agreement. Where the routing runs through the Emirates it goes by way of MIA, on one ticket, with the connection booked long enough to be real. From Santa Martthe ground leg is 220 km, and the desk allows for traffic rather than assuming the map is right.
Getting to the aircraft from Santa Marta
Every timing on this page comes off one measurement: 220 km of road between Santa Marta and CTG, 3 hours 16 minutes at an ordinary speed. Straight line distances are not used here, because couriers do not fly to the airport.
A ground leg of 3 hours 16 minutes from Santa Marta is planned like a leg of the trip, because it is one. The desk allows for the 220 km in the timings and in the fee. A single gate serves Santa Marta. When CTG 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| CTG | Cartagena de Indias Rafael Nuñez | 220 km | 3 hours 16 minutes | 19 |
Santa Marta is a city of 499,000 people in Magdalena Department, and the clock there runs 9 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 Santa Marta may exist and still not appear in the table above.
What CTG reaches without a change
Reach, measured properly. CTG serves 19 airports without a change, across 8 countries, and the routes with real frequency are the ones a courier in Santa Marta is actually sent on.
| IATA | City | Airport | Frequency | Operators |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| BOG | Bogotá | Bogotá El Dorado | about 34 departures a day | 4 operators: Avianca, JetSMART, LATAM |
| MDE | Rionegro | Rionegro Jose Maria Córdova | about 18 departures a day | 4 operators: Avianca, JetSMART |
| PTY | Tocumen | Tocumen | about 5 departures a day | 1 operator: Copa Airlines |
| CLO | Santiago de Cali | Santiago de Cali Alfonso Bonilla Aragon | about 4 departures a day | 3 operators: Avianca, JetSMART, LATAM |
| ADZ | San Andrés | San Andrés Gustavo Rojas Pinilla | about 4 departures a day | 2 operators: LATAM |
| MIA | Miami | Miami | about 2 departures a day | 1 operator: American Airlines |
| BGA | Bucaramanga | Bucaramanga Palonegro | about one departure a day | 2 operators: Avianca |
| PEI | Pereira | Pereira Matecaña | about one departure a day | 2 operators: Avianca, JetSMART |
| FLL | Fort Lauderdale | Fort Lauderdale Hollywood | about one departure a day | 1 operator: JetBlue |
| MEX | Mexico City | Mexico City Licenciado Benito Juarez | about one departure a day | 1 operator: Aeromexico |
Counting every airport a courier in Santa Marta can drive to, the combined nonstop board is 19 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 Santa Marta
The site holds no public industrial map for CTG, so this section says less rather than guessing. Consignments out of Santa Marta are typically documents, spare parts, samples and small valuables that missed a cut off.
Why a courier in Santa Marta is useful to the desk
The reason Santa Marta has a page is redundancy. When a flight cancels the consignment does not, and a desk with couriers in Santa Marta as well as the big hubs has a second person who can reach CTG and take the rebooked departure.
There is no nonstop between CTG and the Emirates, and the page is not going to pretend otherwise. From Santa Martthe best single change is Miami (MIA), and MIA to DXB is flown by Emirates, about one departure a day. Counting a normal connection that is around 19h 33m gate to gate, so an assignment between Santa Marta 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 Colombia list
Show the 12 closest, and how far each is from Santa Marta
Barranquilla71 km away, CTG in 2 hours 3 minutesCartagena170 km away, CTG in 23 minutesMagangué230 km away, CTG in 3 hours 5 minutesSincelejo252 km away, CTG in 2 hours 40 minutesMontería332 km away, CTG in 4 hours 3 minutesMedellin576 km away, MDE in 40 minutesRionegro580 km away, MDE in 14 minutesTunja640 km away, BOG in 2 hours 29 minutesZipaquirá692 km away, BOG in 1 hour 1 minutesManizales701 km away, CLO in 3 hours 54 minutesFacatativá715 km away, BOG in 47 minutesPereira733 km away, CLO in 3 hours 10 minutes
All 25 Colombia cities are listed on the Colombia 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 CTG, between Colombia 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 3 hours 16 minutes drive to CTG. 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 CTG, 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 Santa Marta list
01How far is Santa Marta from CTG?
220 km, about 3 hours 16 minutes by car from Santa Marta. The desk works backwards from the bag drop at CTG, so the time it asks you to leave will look conservative and is meant to.
02What can I reach from Santa Marta without a change of aircraft?
CTG serves 19 airports nonstop across 8 countries with 14 operating carriers, and counting every gate a courier in Santa Marta can drive to, the combined nonstop board is 19 airports. That is the practical range of a single assignment from here before anybody has to connect.
03Getting from Santa Marta to the Emirates: nonstop or not?
From Santa Martthe best single change is Miami (MIA), and MIA to DXB is flown by Emirates, about one departure a day. Counting a normal connection that is around 19h 33m gate to gate, so an assignment between Santa Marta 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 Santa Marta, 3 hours 16 minutes from CTG, is a qualification rather than an obstacle.
05Does it cost anything to apply?
Applying costs nothing and always will. A courier on the Santa Marta list makes exactly one payment to us, the AED 199 Academy, and gets it back in full with the fee for the first assignment they complete.
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 CTG
If 3 hours 16 minutes to Cartagena de Indias Rafael Nuñez sounds like a normal drive to you, the desk would like your name on the list.
Apply for this positionSee all openingsThe CTG atlas entry · The Colombia courier desk · Colombia country guide · All courier openings · Apply to the courier network