This is passenger travel with a job attached. You are booked on a scheduled service out of DUB, in the cabin, with a sealed consignment that never leaves you. The reason the desk keeps names in Athlone is that 126 km of road is a short enough lead time to say yes to a departure the same day.
Open · Ireland desk · Athlone
On Board Courier, Athlone
The desk keeps a courier list for Athlone because DUB is close enough to matter: 126 km of road and 198 nonstop destinations from the terminal you walk into.
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 inAthlone, Leinster
Nearest gateDUB · Dublin
Drive to the aircraft126 km · 1 hour 28 minutes
Nonstop from DUB198 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
An assignment is quoted as a whole: the routing from DUB, the waiting time, the return, and one fee for all of it. The Gulf sector out of DUB is nonstop, so there is no connection to miss. Nothing is deducted afterwards, and the drive of 1 hour 28 minutes to the airport is part of what the fee is calculated on.
Getting to the aircraft from Athlone
Reachability, not size, is why Athlone has a page here. Athlone qualifies because Dublin is 126 km away by road, 1 hour 28 minutes, and because that airport publishes a real scheduled nonstop board.
1 hour 28 minutes behind the wheel is a real commitment, and both the notice and the fee reflect it. Where the flight out of DUB leaves early, the desk books you in nearby the night before. Where DUB cannot help, SNN sometimes can. It is 1 hour 39 minutes from Athlone and serves 37 airports without a change of aircraft.
| IATA | Airport | By road | Driving time | Nonstop |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| DUB | Dublin | 126 km | 1 hour 28 minutes | 198 |
| SNN | Limerick city Shannon | 143 km | 1 hour 39 minutes | 37 |
Athlone is a city of 23,000 people in Leinster, and the clock there runs 3 hours behind the Emirates in summer and 4 in winter. 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 Athlone may exist and still not appear in the table above.
What DUB reaches without a change
A gate 1 hour 28 minutes from Athlone is only useful if it goes somewhere. DUB goes to 198 airports nonstop in 45 countries, and the heaviest routes on that board are shown here with the airlines that fly them.
| IATA | City | Airport | Frequency | Operators |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| EDI | Edinburgh | Edinburgh | about 24 departures a day | 2 operators: Aer Lingus, Ryanair |
| MAN | Manchester | Manchester | about 22 departures a day | 3 operators: Aer Lingus, Ryanair |
| LHR | London | London Heathrow | about 21 departures a day | 2 operators: Aer Lingus, British Airways |
| BHX | Birmingham | Birmingham | about 16 departures a day | 2 operators: Aer Lingus, Ryanair |
| GLA | Glasgow | Glasgow | about 15 departures a day | 2 operators: Aer Lingus, Ryanair |
| AMS | Amsterdam | Amsterdam Schiphol | about 15 departures a day | 4 operators: Aer Lingus, Ryanair, Qatar Airways |
| LPL | Liverpool | Liverpool John Lennon | about 10 departures a day | 2 operators: Aer Lingus, Ryanair |
| CDG | Paris | Paris Charles de Gaulle | about 10 departures a day | 3 operators: Aer Lingus, Air France |
| BRS | Bristol | Bristol | about 10 departures a day | 2 operators: Aer Lingus, Ryanair |
| LBA | Leeds | Leeds Bradford | about 9 departures a day | 2 operators: Aer Lingus, Ryanair |
Counting every airport a courier in Athlone can drive to, the combined nonstop board is 200 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
What is made within reach of DUB explains the deadlines around Athlone. The sites below are publicly documented facts about the DUB catchment, and none of them is a customer of ours.
- Intel, Leixlip. Wafer fabrication in Europe. Ireland's fab, supplied from across Europe and the United States. It sits on DUB, which is 1 hour 28 minutes from Athlone by road, and the sector is semiconductor.
- Pfizer, Ringaskiddy and Grange Castle. Active ingredient and biologics manufacturing. Ireland manufactures for the world and ships against timepoints. It sits on DUB, which is 1 hour 28 minutes from Athlone by road, and the sector is pharma.
- MSD, Carlow and Ballydine. Biologics and active ingredient manufacturing. The same Irish pattern. It sits on DUB, which is 1 hour 28 minutes from Athlone by road, and the sector is pharma.
Why a courier in Athlone is useful to the desk
What the desk buys when it books a courier in Athlone is the ground half of a delivery. The flying out of DUB is easy to arrange. Getting a trustworthy person and a sealed consignment to DUB inside a few hours is the part that fails, and 1 hour 28 minutes is why it does not fail here.
How a consignment gets between DUB and the Emirates. From Athlone the Gulf is a single sector: DUB and DXB are joined nonstop, about 2 departures a day, flown by Emirates. That is roughly 7h 28m in the air over 5,900 km, and it means a consignment can leave Athlone in the evening and be in the Gulf before the next working day starts.
The nearest other cities on the Ireland list
Show the 12 closest, and how far each is from Athlone
Portlaoise61 km away, DUB in 1 hour 8 minutesGalway76 km away, SNN in 1 hour 10 minutesDroichead Nua80 km away, DUB in 42 minutesNavan87 km away, DUB in 38 minutesCarlow93 km away, DUB in 1 hour 7 minutesEnnis95 km away, SNN in 24 minutesLimerick96 km away, SNN in 30 minutesDrogheda110 km away, DUB in 34 minutesDublin112 km away, DUB in 18 minutesDundalk119 km away, DUB in 54 minutesBray125 km away, DUB in 35 minutesWaterford141 km away, ORK in 1 hour 50 minutes
All 15 Ireland cities are listed on the Ireland 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 DUB and the other airports listed above, between Ireland 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 28 minutes drive to DUB. 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 DUB, 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 Athlone list
01How far is Athlone from DUB?
From the centre of Athlone the drive is 126 km and roughly 1 hour 28 minutes. Where the departure is early enough to make that uncomfortable, the desk books a room near DUB instead.
02What can I reach from Athlone without a change of aircraft?
DUB serves 198 airports nonstop across 45 countries with 49 operating carriers, and counting every gate a courier in Athlone can drive to, the combined nonstop board is 200 airports. That is the practical range of a single assignment from here before anybody has to connect.
03Getting from Athlone to the Emirates: nonstop or not?
From Athlone the Gulf is a single sector: DUB and DXB are joined nonstop, about 2 departures a day, flown by Emirates. That is roughly 7h 28m in the air over 5,900 km, and it means a consignment can leave Athlone in the evening and be in the Gulf before the next working day starts.
04Do I have to live in the UAE to be on this list?
No. The company is Emirati and the coordination is done in Dubai, but the courier list is worldwide and Athlone is on it precisely because somebody has to be near DUB.
05Does it cost anything to apply?
No. Applying from Athlone costs nothing and screening costs nothing. The Academy is AED 199, paid once by everybody on the Athlone list, and returned in full on top of the fee for your first completed assignment.
06How is my fee agreed?
The desk quotes the whole assignment: the sector out of DUB, the waiting, the return and the ground time. One figure for the trip out of DUB, agreed in advance and paid after the handover.
Apply to fly out of DUB
Sign up once for Athlone. What happens after that is entirely your decision, one DUB departure at a time.
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