Heerlen earns a posting because of what CGN can do on a bad day. 154 nonstop destinations and 34 carriers give the desk somewhere to rebook when a flight goes, and 1 hour 10 minutes of driving gives you time to make the replacement. Redundancy is why Heerlen gets called and a city with one thin airport does not.
Open · Netherlands desk · Heerlen
On Board Courier, Heerlen
A place on the courier list for Heerlen. Nearest usable gate CGN, 1 hour 10 minutes by road, 154 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 inHeerlen, Limburg
Nearest gateCGN · Cologne
Drive to the aircraft99 km · 1 hour 10 minutes
Nonstop from CGN154 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 CGN, 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 IST, on one ticket, with the connection booked long enough to be real. From Heerlen the ground leg is 99 km, and the desk allows for traffic rather than assuming the map is right.
Getting to the aircraft from Heerlen
Every timing on this page comes off one measurement: 99 km of road between Heerlen and CGN, 1 hour 10 minutes at an ordinary speed. Straight line distances are not used here, because couriers do not fly to the airport.
At 99 km the road out of Heerlen is predictable rather than trivial, so the offer names a leaving time and adds the traffic on top of it. Two boards serve Heerlen in practice: 154 nonstop destinations at CGN and another 176 at DUS, 1 hour 17 minutes away by road.
| IATA | Airport | By road | Driving time | Nonstop |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| CGN | Cologne Bonn | 99 km | 1 hour 10 minutes | 154 |
| DUS | Düsseldorf | 104 km | 1 hour 17 minutes | 176 |
| EIN | Eindhoven | 96 km | 1 hour 21 minutes | 74 |
| BRU | Brussels | 124 km | 1 hour 24 minutes | 193 |
Heerlen is a city of 93,000 people in Limburg, 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
Reach, measured properly. CGN serves 154 airports without a change, across 42 countries, and the routes with real frequency are the ones a courier in Heerlen is actually sent on.
| 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 Heerlen 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
These are documented facilities within reach of CGN. Listing one explains why a deadline arises near Heerlen; it does not say that the company is a customer.
- 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 1 hour 10 minutes from Heerlen 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 1 hour 10 minutes from Heerlen by road, and the sector is pharma.
Why a courier in Heerlen is useful to the desk
The reason Heerlen has a page is redundancy. When a flight cancels the consignment does not, and a desk with couriers in Heerlen as well as the big hubs has a second person who can reach CGN and take the rebooked departure.
The Emirates are reached from CGN with a change, and this page says so rather than glossing over it. From Heerlen 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 Heerlen 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 Netherlands list
Show the 12 closest, and how far each is from Heerlen
Maastricht21 km away, BRU in 1 hour 19 minutesVenlo56 km away, DUS in 51 minutesEindhoven71 km away, EIN in 13 minutesTilburg97 km away, EIN in 28 minutesDen Bosch102 km away, EIN in 31 minutesOss103 km away, EIN in 44 minutesNijmegen107 km away, EIN in 1 hour 1 minutesBreda115 km away, RTM in 48 minutesArnhem122 km away, EIN in 1 hour 10 minutesRoosendaal128 km away, RTM in 53 minutesDordrecht137 km away, RTM in 29 minutesUtrecht147 km away, AMS in 48 minutes
All 28 Netherlands cities are listed on the Netherlands 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 the Netherlands 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 10 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 Heerlen list
01How far is Heerlen from CGN?
99 km by road, roughly 1 hour 10 minutes. Traffic around Heerlen is allowed for on top of that, and the parking or the transfer at CGN is paid by the desk.
02What can I reach from Heerlen without a change of aircraft?
CGN serves 154 airports nonstop across 42 countries with 34 operating carriers, and counting every gate a courier in Heerlen 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 Heerlen to the Emirates: nonstop or not?
From Heerlen 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 Heerlen 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?
You do not need one to be on the Heerlen list. What is checked is your passport, your right to enter the country on the routing, and how fast you can be at CGN.
05Does it cost anything to apply?
It is free to apply from Heerlen and free to be screened. The single charge anywhere on the Heerlen list is the AED 199 Academy, paid once and refunded in full on top of the fee for the first assignment you complete.
06How is my fee agreed?
Nothing is charged to a courier in Heerlen without written agreement and nothing is taken off the fee later. What was agreed before the 1 hour 10 minutes drive to CGN is what is paid.
Apply to fly out of CGN
If 1 hour 10 minutes to Cologne Bonn sounds like a normal drive to you, the desk would like your name on the list.
Apply for this positionSee all openingsThe CGN atlas entry · The DUS atlas entry · The Netherlands courier desk · Netherlands country guide · All courier openings · Apply to the courier network