Every assignment starts with an airport, and yours is ZRH. 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. Schaffhausen is 55 minutes out, which puts you inside the window for most of 223 nonstop destinations.
On Board Courier, Schaffhausen
If you are in Schaffhausen you are 55 minutes from Zurich Kloten and 223 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.
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
There is no roster and no shift on the Schaffhausen list. An assignment is a single trip: accept the offer, collect, drive 34 km to ZRH, board, land, clear, hand over. The Gulf sector out of ZRH 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 Schaffhausen
The ground leg from Schaffhausen is 34 km to Zurich Kloten, about 55 minutes. Where a second airport is within reach of Schaffhausen it is listed too, because the desk will use whichever one has the flight.
A drive of 55 minutes is comfortable for a same day departure as long as the call comes with a couple of hours in hand, which most do. Schaffhausen has more than one way out, which is unusual and useful. FDH at 1 hour 14 minutes adds 16 nonstop destinations to the 223 at ZRH.
| IATA | Airport | By road | Driving time | Nonstop |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ZRH | Zurich Kloten | 34 km | 55 minutes | 223 |
| FDH | Friedrichshafen | 87 km | 1 hour 14 minutes | 16 |
| BSL | Bâle/Mulhouse Euro Basel-Mulhouse-Freiburg | 103 km | 1 hour 42 minutes | 122 |
| STR | Stuttgart | 168 km | 1 hour 50 minutes | 127 |
Schaffhausen is a city of 37,000 people in Schaffhausen, 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 ZRH reaches without a change
Scheduled reach from Zurich Kloten: 223 nonstop destinations, 72 countries, 63 operating carriers. Frequencies below are average daily flights from the site’s own route data.
| IATA | City | Airport | Frequency | Operators |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| FRA | Frankfurt-am-Main | Frankfurt-am-Main | about 14 departures a day | 4 operators: SWISS, Condor, Air Dolomiti |
| PMI | Palma De Mallorca | Palma De Mallorca | about 14 departures a day | 6 operators: easyJet, Condor, Eurowings |
| BER | Berlin | Berlin Brandenburg | about 12 departures a day | 3 operators: SWISS, easyJet, Eurowings |
| LHR | London | London Heathrow | about 12 departures a day | 2 operators: SWISS, British Airways |
| AMS | Amsterdam | Amsterdam Schiphol | about 11 departures a day | 2 operators: SWISS, KLM |
| VIE | Vienna | Vienna Schwechat | about 10 departures a day | 2 operators: Austrian Airlines |
| PRN | Prishtina | Prishtina Priština | about 10 departures a day | 4 operators: easyJet |
| GVA | Geneva | Geneva Cointrin | about 9 departures a day | 2 operators: SWISS |
| CDG | Paris | Paris Charles de Gaulle | about 9 departures a day | 2 operators: SWISS, Air France |
| HAM | Hamburg | Hamburg | about 9 departures a day | 3 operators: SWISS, Eurowings |
Counting every airport a courier in Schaffhausen can drive to, the combined nonstop board is 271 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
Where the urgent traffic around Schaffhausen comes from is a matter of public record rather than of opinion. The sites below sit inside the ZRH catchment and are named to explain the demand, not to suggest that any of them is a customer.
- Novartis, Basel. Research and manufacturing at the group head office. Basel sits where three countries meet and uses three airports. It sits on ZRH, which is 55 minutes from Schaffhausen by road, and the sector is pharma.
- Roche, Basel and Kaiseraugst. Pharmaceuticals and diagnostics. Diagnostics move on shorter clocks than most freight can hold. It sits on ZRH, which is 55 minutes from Schaffhausen by road, and the sector is pharma.
- Lonza, Visp and Basel. Contract manufacturing of biologics. Contract manufacturing runs to somebody else's deadline, which makes it tighter. It sits on ZRH, which is 55 minutes from Schaffhausen by road, and the sector is pharma.
Why a courier in Schaffhausen is useful to the desk
Hand carry is a business of catchments, and Schaffhausen is inside one. Schaffhausen sits inside the catchment of Zurich Kloten, 34 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 ZRH. From Schaffhausen the Gulf is a single sector: ZRH and AUH are joined nonstop, about 3 departures a day, flown by Etihad Airways. That is roughly 6h 06m in the air over 4,750 km, and it means a consignment can leave Schaffhausen in the evening and be in the Gulf before the next working day starts.
The nearest other cities on the Switzerland list
Show the 12 closest, and how far each is from Schaffhausen
All 22 Switzerland cities are listed on the Switzerland 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 ZRH and the other airports listed above, between Switzerland 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 55 minutes drive to ZRH. 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 ZRH, 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 Schaffhausen list
01How far is Schaffhausen from ZRH?
55 minutes and 34 km on a measured route. Whether that is a comfortable drive depends on the hour, so the offer names the time you should leave Schaffhausen rather than only the departure time.
02What can I reach from Schaffhausen without a change of aircraft?
ZRH serves 223 airports nonstop across 72 countries with 63 operating carriers, and counting every gate a courier in Schaffhausen can drive to, the combined nonstop board is 271 airports. That is the practical range of a single assignment from here before anybody has to connect.
03Getting from Schaffhausen to the Emirates: nonstop or not?
From Schaffhausen the Gulf is a single sector: ZRH and AUH are joined nonstop, about 3 departures a day, flown by Etihad Airways. That is roughly 6h 06m in the air over 4,750 km, and it means a consignment can leave Schaffhausen 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 Schaffhausen. The Schaffhausen list exists because somebody has to be near ZRH when a consignment appears in Schaffhausen.
05Does it cost anything to apply?
It is free to apply from Schaffhausen 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 offer, the routing out of ZRH and the fee arrive together. You reply yes or no, and the yes is the agreement for that single trip out of ZRH.
Apply to fly out of ZRH
Put your name down for Schaffhausen. There is no cost to apply from Schaffhausen, no minimum, and no obligation to accept anything you are offered.
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