Kerpen sits inside the catchment of a working airport. Cologne Bonn handles 154 nonstop destinations and 42 countries, and the drive from the centre is 37 minutes. A courier who can be airside at CGN inside that window is worth more to the desk than a courier in a bigger city who is stuck in traffic.
On Board Courier, Kerpen
On board courier work out of Kerpen. You fly as a passenger, you carry one consignment, and the airport the desk puts you through is Cologne Bonn, 37 minutes from the centre.
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
The paperwork exists before you leave Kerpen. Invoice, declaration, consignee details and, where the goods need it, the permit, all prepared in Dubai and sent to you before you leave Kerpen. Where the routing runs through the Emirates it goes by way of IST, on one ticket, with the connection booked long enough to be real. Your job at the counter is to be calm, to answer plainly and to keep the consignment in sight.
Getting to the aircraft from Kerpen
These are the gates within reach of Kerpen by car. The nearest, CGN, is 42 km away, about 37 minutes, and each one is shown with what it reaches without a change of aircraft.
At 42 km the road out of Kerpen is predictable rather than trivial, so the offer carries a leaving time and the traffic is allowed for on top of it. A courier in Kerpen is not stuck with one board. DUS at 59 minutes carries 176 nonstop destinations of its own, which is what stops a cancellation ending an assignment.
| IATA | Airport | By road | Driving time | Nonstop |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| CGN | Cologne Bonn | 42 km | 37 minutes | 154 |
| DUS | Düsseldorf | 75 km | 59 minutes | 176 |
| EIN | Eindhoven | 142 km | 1 hour 44 minutes | 74 |
| BRU | Brussels | 184 km | 2 hours | 193 |
Kerpen is a city of 64,000 people in North Rhine-Westphalia, and the clock there runs 2 hours behind the Emirates in summer and 3 in winter. Road distances are measured driving routes rather than straight lines, and nonstop counts come from the scheduled route data this site publishes.
What CGN reaches without a change
Below is what Cologne Bonn actually flies, taken from the same scheduled route datthe rest of the site uses: 154 nonstop destinations, 34 carriers, ordered by average daily flights.
| IATA | City | Airport | Frequency | Operators |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| AYT | Antalya | Antalya | about 16 departures a day | 5 operators: Pegasus Airlines |
| PMI | Palma De Mallorca | Palma De Mallorca | about 13 departures a day | 2 operators: Eurowings, Ryanair |
| SAW | Istanbul | Istanbul Sabiha Gökçen | about 7 departures a day | 2 operators: Pegasus Airlines, AJet |
| MUC | Munich | Munich | about 6 departures a day | 4 operators: Eurowings, Lufthansa |
| BER | Berlin | Berlin Brandenburg | about 5 departures a day | 2 operators: Eurowings |
| IST | Istanbul | Istanbul | about 4 departures a day | 2 operators: Turkish Airlines |
| ADB | Izmir | Adnan Menderes | about 4 departures a day | 3 operators: Pegasus Airlines |
| HER | Heraklion | Heraklion Nikos Kazantzakis | about 4 departures a day | 3 operators: Eurowings |
| STN | London | London Stansted | about 4 departures a day | 1 operator: Ryanair |
| BCN | Barcelona | Barcelona | about 4 departures a day | 2 operators: Eurowings, Ryanair |
Counting every airport a courier in Kerpen can drive to, the combined nonstop board is 282 airports. Frequencies are average daily flights and change with the season, so the desk checks the live schedule before it offers you anything.
The industry inside this catchment
The facilities below sit inside the CGN catchment and are a matter of public record. They are named to explain why consignments leave Kerpen in a hurry, and for no other reason.
- Ford, Dearborn and Cologne. Assembly on both sides of the Atlantic. A single engineering organisation split across two continents. It sits on CGN, which is 37 minutes from Kerpen by road, and the sector is automotive.
- Bayer, Leverkusen and Wuppertal. Pharmaceutical research and production. The Rhineland cluster, two airports, one region. It sits on CGN, which is 37 minutes from Kerpen by road, and the sector is pharma.
- Siemens Energy, Berlin and Muelheim. Gas turbine manufacture and service. A turbine out of service is a power station out of service. It sits on DUS, which is 59 minutes from Kerpen by road, and the sector is energy.
Why a courier in Kerpen is useful to the desk
A city qualifies for this list when three things are true at once: a real airport within a sensible drive, a real nonstop board on it, and something in the area worth moving. Kerpen clears all three, at 37 minutes from CGN and 154 destinations.
Nothing flies CGN to the Emirates without a stop, so here is the honest version. From Kerpen the best single change is Istanbul (IST), and IST to DXB is flown by Emirates and flydubai, about 4 departures a day. Counting a normal connection that is around 8h 21m gate to gate, so an assignment between Kerpen 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 Germany list
Show the 12 closest, and how far each is from Kerpen
All 136 Germany cities are listed on the Germany 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 CGN and the other airports listed above, between Germany 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 37 minutes drive to CGN. 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 CGN, 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 Kerpen list
01How far is Kerpen from CGN?
It is 37 minutes by car, 42 km on the road. Traffic around Kerpen is allowed for separately, and the parking or the transfer at CGN is paid by the desk.
02What can I reach from Kerpen without a change of aircraft?
CGN serves 154 airports nonstop across 42 countries with 34 operating carriers, and counting every gate a courier in Kerpen can drive to, the combined nonstop board is 282 airports. That is the practical range of a single assignment from here before anybody has to connect.
03Getting from Kerpen to the Emirates: nonstop or not?
From Kerpen the best single change is Istanbul (IST), and IST to DXB is flown by Emirates and flydubai, about 4 departures a day. Counting a normal connection that is around 8h 21m gate to gate, so an assignment between Kerpen 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. What is checked is your passport, your right to enter the country on the routing, and how quickly you can reach CGN from Kerpen.
05Does it cost anything to apply?
No. Screening costs nothing and the Kerpen list costs nothing. The AED 199 Academy is paid once and refunded on top of your first completed assignment fee.
06How is my fee agreed?
What you are paid is agreed in writing before you leave Kerpen and is not adjusted afterwards. Waiting time and the return leg into Kerpen are inside that figure rather than extra to it.
Apply to fly out of CGN
A five minute form, a background check and a short course, and you are somebody the desk can call when a consignment has to leave Kerpen today.
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