ABX Air, the U.S. freighter airline and ground terminal operator that is trying to build more business outside its main DHL Express customer, said the U.S. Postal Service has renewed its contract to operate a big mail terminal in Indianapolis.

ABX has managed that USPS sort facility since 2004, but said the new four-year contract expands its role through October 2010 and should generate $17.7 million over that term.

That is also the third USPS award ABX has won this year, along with a July contract to manage a sort center in Dallas and a similar one last month for a center in Memphis, Tenn. Each contract also allows for two, two-year extensions if USPS chooses.

Joe Hete, ABX Air president and CEO, said his company has "a proven, tested business model that we intend to follow in each USPS operation."

John D. Boyd