The work is one consignment, one cabin, one signature. You collect it in or near Uster, you keep it with you, you present the prepared paperwork at customs and you hand it over in person. What makes Uster useful is that Zurich Kloten is only 28 km away, so the collection and the departure can happen in the same afternoon.
On Board Courier, Uster
Carry sealed, urgent consignments out of Uster. ZRH sits 28 km north west of the city and flies to 223 airports without a change of aircraft.
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
From the offer to the handover, a trip out of ZRH tends to run under thirty hours. 39 minutes to Zurich Kloten, the sector itself, customs at the far end, and a signature. The Gulf sector out of ZRH is nonstop, so there is no connection to miss. Everything outside the cabin, the transfers, the hotel where the routing needs one, is booked and paid by the desk.
Getting to the aircraft from Uster
A courier in Uster is only as fast as the road in front of them. Uster to ZRH is 28 km, 39 minutes, and the airports below are ordered by that drive rather than by size.
39 minutes of road is the ordinary case on this list. It is short enough for a same day flight out of ZRH and long enough that the desk builds slack into the timings. Two gates serve Uster in practice. BSL is 1 hour 28 minutes away with 122 nonstop destinations, and the offer always names the airport before you accept it.
| IATA | Airport | By road | Driving time | Nonstop |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ZRH | Zurich Kloten | 28 km | 39 minutes | 223 |
| BSL | Bâle/Mulhouse Euro Basel-Mulhouse-Freiburg | 112 km | 1 hour 28 minutes | 122 |
| FDH | Friedrichshafen | 138 km | 1 hour 53 minutes | 16 |
Uster is a city of 35,000 people in Zurich, 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
ZRH publishes 223 nonstop routes. For a courier in Uster that is the difference between waiting for tomorrow and boarding tonight, so the busiest of them are set out below with their operators.
| 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 Uster can drive to, the combined nonstop board is 249 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
A page that claims customers it does not have is worthless. What follows is public industrial geography around ZRH, shown because it explains why consignments leave Uster in a hurry.
- 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 39 minutes from Uster 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 39 minutes from Uster 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 39 minutes from Uster by road, and the sector is pharma.
Why a courier in Uster is useful to the desk
There is a second reason Uster matters, and it is the return leg. A courier who lives here can take a consignment inbound to Zurich and be home the same evening, which is cheaper and faster than flying somebody out from the Gulf and back.
The Emirates end of an assignment out of Uster is straightforward. From Uster 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 Uster 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 Uster
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 39 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 Uster list
01How far is Uster from ZRH?
The route from Uster to ZRH runs 28 km and takes about 39 minutes with clear roads. Traffic between Uster and ZRH is allowed for on top, and the desk pays for the parking or the transfer either way.
02What can I reach from Uster without a change of aircraft?
ZRH serves 223 airports nonstop across 72 countries with 63 operating carriers, and counting every gate a courier in Uster can drive to, the combined nonstop board is 249 airports. That is the practical range of a single assignment from here before anybody has to connect.
03Getting from Uster to the Emirates: nonstop or not?
From Uster 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 Uster 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 residence visa, no Emirates address and no relocation. A courier on this list lives in Uster and flies out of ZRH, which is exactly what the desk needs.
05Does it cost anything to apply?
There is no application fee, no placement fee and no deposit, in Uster or anywhere else. The AED 199 Academy is the single payment, and it is returned in full with your first assignment fee.
06How is my fee agreed?
It is written down before a courier in Uster commits to anything. The desk sends the fee for that specific trip out of ZRH, you accept in writing, and it is paid by transfer after the consignee signs.
Apply to fly out of ZRH
One application covers Uster and every other desk we run. Tell us where you are and how fast you can reach Zurich Kloten.
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