Every assignment starts with an airport, and yours is LIS. The desk holds a consignment that is late, valuable or perishable, finds the first departure that fits, and then looks for a courier who can be at the counter in time. Setúbal is 42 minutes out, which puts you inside the window for most of 154 nonstop destinations.
Open · Portugal desk · Setúbal
On Board Courier, Setúbal
If you are in Setúbal you are 42 minutes from Lisbon Portela and 154 scheduled nonstop destinations. That is the whole starting qualification. Freelance, per assignment, ticket paid.
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 inSetúbal, Setúbal
Nearest gateLIS · Lisbon
Drive to the aircraft52 km · 42 minutes
Nonstop from LIS154 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
There is no roster and no shift on the Setúbal list. An assignment is a single trip: accept the offer, collect, drive 52 km to LIS, board, land, clear, hand over. The Gulf sector out of LIS is nonstop, so there is no connection to miss. Then you go home or you wait for a return leg, and the desk books and pays for either.
Getting to the aircraft from Setúbal
The ground leg from Setúbal is 52 km to Lisbon Portela, about 42 minutes. Where a second airport is within reach of Setúbal it is listed too, because the desk will use whichever one has the flight.
A drive of 42 minutes is comfortable for a same day departure as long as the call comes with a couple of hours in hand, which most do. LIS is the only airport within a sensible drive of Setúbal, so every assignment from here runs through it. That makes its 154 nonstop destinations the practical limit of what you can be offered.
| IATA | Airport | By road | Driving time | Nonstop |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| LIS | Lisbon Portela | 52 km | 42 minutes | 154 |
Setúbal is a city of 118,000 people in Setúbal, 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.
What LIS reaches without a change
Scheduled reach from Lisbon Portela: 154 nonstop destinations, 50 countries, 63 operating carriers. Frequencies below are average daily flights from the site’s own route data.
| IATA | City | Airport | Frequency | Operators |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| MAD | Madrid | Madrid Adolfo Suárez-Barajas | about 21 departures a day | 6 operators: TAP Air Portugal, Ryanair, easyJet |
| FNC | Funchal | Funchal Madeira | about 16 departures a day | 4 operators: TAP Air Portugal, Ryanair, easyJet |
| BCN | Barcelona | Barcelona | about 15 departures a day | 4 operators: TAP Air Portugal, Ryanair, easyJet |
| ORY | Paris | Paris Orly | about 14 departures a day | 2 operators: TAP Air Portugal, Transavia France |
| OPO | Porto | Porto Francisco de Sá Carneiro | about 11 departures a day | 3 operators: TAP Air Portugal |
| AMS | Amsterdam | Amsterdam Schiphol | about 10 departures a day | 3 operators: TAP Air Portugal, Transavia, KLM |
| PDL | Ponta Delgada | Ponta Delgada João Paulo II | about 9 departures a day | 2 operators: TAP Air Portugal |
| FCO | Rome | Rome Leonardo da Vinci-Fiumicino | about 8 departures a day | 3 operators: TAP Air Portugal, Ryanair, Wizz Air |
| FRA | Frankfurt-am-Main | Frankfurt-am-Main | about 8 departures a day | 2 operators: TAP Air Portugal, Lufthansa |
| GVA | Geneva | Geneva Cointrin | about 7 departures a day | 3 operators: TAP Air Portugal, easyJet, SWISS |
Counting every airport a courier in Setúbal can drive to, the combined nonstop board is 154 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 Setúbal
No public industrial file exists here for Setúbal, so none is claimed. Urgent hand carry demand in a city this size comes from deadlines, not from a single plant: a court filing, a machine that stopped, a batch that has to be tested.
Why a courier in Setúbal is useful to the desk
Hand carry is a business of catchments, and Setúbal is inside one. Setúbal sits inside the catchment of Lisbon Portela, 52 km out, which means a consignment collected in the city in the morning is airborne the same day rather than the next one.
The Emirates end of the lane looks like this from LIS. From Setúbal the Gulf is a single sector: LIS and DXB are joined nonstop, about 2 departures a day, flown by Emirates. That is roughly 7h 46m in the air over 6,150 km, and it means a consignment can leave Setúbal in the evening and be in the Gulf before the next working day starts.
The nearest other cities on the Portugal list
Show the 6 closest, and how far each is from Setúbal
All 7 Portugal cities are listed on the Portugal 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 LIS, between Portugal 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 42 minutes drive to LIS. 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 LIS, 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 Setúbal list
01How far is Setúbal from LIS?
42 minutes and 52 km on a measured route. Whether that is a comfortable drive depends on the hour, so the offer names the time you should leave Setúbal rather than only the departure time.
02What can I reach from Setúbal without a change of aircraft?
LIS serves 154 airports nonstop across 50 countries with 63 operating carriers, and counting every gate a courier in Setúbal can drive to, the combined nonstop board is 154 airports. That is the practical range of a single assignment from here before anybody has to connect.
03Getting from Setúbal to the Emirates: nonstop or not?
From Setúbal the Gulf is a single sector: LIS and DXB are joined nonstop, about 2 departures a day, flown by Emirates. That is roughly 7h 46m in the air over 6,150 km, and it means a consignment can leave Setúbal 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 happens in Dubai, but couriers live in places like Setúbal. The Setúbal list exists because somebody has to be near LIS when a consignment appears in Setúbal.
05Does it cost anything to apply?
It is free to apply from Setúbal and free to be screened. The one charge anywhere in the process is the AED 199 Academy, paid once and refunded on top of your first assignment fee.
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 LIS
Put your name down for Setúbal. There is no cost to apply from Setúbal, no minimum, and no obligation to accept anything you are offered.
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