Under your control · Dedicated courier
On-Board Courier
A named courier travels with your shipment and holds personal custody from collection to confirmed handover. No network, no sorting facility, no handover points.
The defining condition
Your shipment needs a person, not a network.
On-Board Courier applies when the shipment is under your control and the situation requires that a specific person takes custody of it and does not let go until it is handed over. That requirement can come from the deadline, from the value of the item, from a chain-of-custody obligation, or from the simple fact that no network service can be trusted with it.
OBC does not mean immediate
This is the most common misunderstanding, and it matters operationally. An OBC movement can be planned well in advance, arranged for later today, or scheduled for a defined time tomorrow. What makes it an OBC is the courier and the custody — not the speed.
When the shipment is ready right now and the next suitable flight is the constraint that governs everything, that is Next Flight Out OBC.
The difference is the trigger: OBC when the shipment needs personal custody, whatever the timing. NFO OBC when it is ready now and the next suitable flight governs the plan.
How the courier actually travels
The courier travels as a ticketed passenger on a commercial flight, and your shipment travels with the courier as accompanied baggage or hand luggage. It is never handed into a freight network. This remains subject to the applicable airline, security, customs and transport requirements, which we check against the actual routing before anything is confirmed.
How an OBC movement runs
You brief us once.
What the shipment is, where it is, where it must be, by when, and who releases and receives it.
A courier is assigned.
A named courier is committed to your shipment, with an owner at AAT Forwarding who stays reachable.
Custody is taken.
The courier collects the shipment and custody is documented from that moment.
It never leaves custody.
The shipment travels with the courier as accompanied baggage or hand luggage.
It is handed to a named recipient.
Handover is evidenced. The case closes on that evidence.
When OBC is the right product
- An aircraft is on ground and a part must reach it under supervision.
- A production line has stopped and the component cannot risk a network.
- An original document must be physically present for a legal or financial deadline.
- Clinical or laboratory material requires supervised, traceable movement.
- An installation or event window cannot move.
- A booked carrier did not collect and the shipment is still with you.
When it is not
If the item is not in your hands — someone else is holding it and it has to come back under your control — that is a different situation entirely. See Critical Asset Return.
What is an On-Board Courier?
An On-Board Courier is a dedicated person who travels with your shipment as accompanied baggage or hand luggage and holds personal custody of it from collection until confirmed handover. The shipment is never handed into a freight network.
Does On-Board Courier mean immediate departure?
No. On-Board Courier is defined by the requirement for personal custody, not by immediacy. An OBC movement can be planned days in advance, arranged for later today, or booked for a defined time. When the shipment is ready now and the next suitable flight is the constraint, that is Next Flight Out OBC.
How is OBC different from express freight?
Express freight moves your shipment through a network of sorting facilities and handlers. An OBC keeps it in one named person's custody for the entire journey, which removes the handover points where time and traceability are normally lost.
What does AAT Forwarding need from me to start?
What the shipment is, where it is now, where it has to be, by when, and who can release and receive it. If something is missing we will tell you exactly what is still required.
Does the courier travel on a commercial passenger flight?
Yes. The courier travels as a ticketed passenger on a scheduled commercial flight, and the shipment travels with the courier as accompanied baggage or hand luggage. This remains subject to the applicable airline, security, customs and transport requirements.
What does documented custody mean in practice?
Custody is recorded at every change of hands: collection from a named person, transfer to the courier, and handover to a named recipient. The case closes on that evidence rather than on an assumption of delivery.
What can travel as hand luggage, and what has to travel in the hold?
That depends on the size, weight and nature of the item and on the rules of the operating airline and the airports involved. Some items travel in the cabin, others must travel as checked accompanied baggage, and some — including certain batteries and dangerous goods — are restricted or excluded from carriage entirely. We check this against the actual routing before anything is confirmed.
How does the courier handle customs?
The courier presents the shipment and its accompanying documentation at departure and on arrival. Requirements differ by country and by the nature of the goods, and where formal clearance or a customs broker is required we tell you before departure rather than at the border.
Also under your control
If it is ready now and the flight is the constraint.
Next Flight Out OBC
Same personal custody, different operational trigger: the shipment is ready now and the next suitable departure governs the plan.
Next Flight Out OBC →And if it is not in your hands?
If someone else is holding the asset, the product is Critical Asset Return — defined by the loss of control, not by how fast it needs to travel.
Next step
Need a courier on this?
Tell us the situation. We will tell you what is operationally possible.