A fixed-base operator (FBO) is an organization granted the right by an airport to operate at the airport and provide aeronautical services such as fueling, hangaring, tie-down and parking, aircraft rental, aircraft maintenance, flight instruction, and similar services. In common practice, an FBO is the primary provider of support services to general aviation operators at a public-use airport and is on land leased from the airport, or, in rare cases, adjacent property as a "through the fence operation". In many smaller airports serving general aviation in remote or modest communities, the town itself may provide fuel services and operate a basic FBO facility. Most FBOs doing business at airports of high to moderate traffic volume are non-governmental organizations, either privately or publicly held companies. Though the term fixed-base operator originated in the United States, the term has become more common in the international aviation industry as business and corporate aviation has grown. The term has not been officially defined as an international standard, but there have been recent uses of the term in International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) publications such as Implementing the Global Aviation Safety Roadmap. History of the term After the end of World War I in November 1918, civil aviation in the United States was primarily unregulated and was primarily made up of "barnstormers," transient pilots flying inexpensive military surplus aircraft from city to city and often landing in farm fields on the outskirts of a town because airports were scarce at that time. The traveling aviators offered airplane rides and aerobatic flight demonstrations, and they frequently collaborated as "flying circuses" by performed impromptu airshows for the townsfolk and charging whatever the local economic conditions would allow. As a result, mechanics and early flight instructors moved around with the aircraft and had no established business in any location. With passage of the Air Commerce Act of 1926 and its resulting requirements for the licensing of pilots, aircraft maintenance requirements, and regulations in training standards, the transient nature of civil aviation was curtailed. The pilots and mechanics who made their living on the road began establishing permanent businesses, termed fixed-base operations, at the growing number of airports appearing throughout the United States as a way to distinguish permanent businesses from the transient businesses that had been common prior to 1926. Services offered Fixed-base operators support a wide range of aeronautical activities which may include one or more of