Definition
A pre-established IFR route that has been assigned a code or identifier by Air Traffic Control so it can be issued to a pilot in a single short clearance instead of being read out as a long string of fixes, airways, and altitudes. Standard Terminal Arrival Routes (STARs) are the most common example: when ATC clears an aircraft via a named arrival, the pilot and controller both refer to the same published route by its code.
Plain English
A common IFR route that has a name or code, so ATC can give it to you in one phrase instead of listing every point along the way.
Context Anchor
Seen when studying Standard Terminal Arrival Routes, flight plan clearances, and arrival procedures into busy airports.
Why Pilots Care
Reduces radio time, lowers the chance of read-back errors, and ensures the flight management system contains the exact route the controller expects.
Analogy
It is like giving someone a saved route name in a navigation app instead of reading out every street and turn. The name points to a full path that has already been built.
Intuition Check
Coded does not mean secret or encrypted here. It means the route is identified in a standard way so air traffic control can assign, track, and communicate it efficiently.
Example Sentence 1
Center cleared us via the KPTIN THREE arrival, an ATC-coded IFR route that took us straight onto the downwind for runway 17L.
Example Sentence 2
Before engine start we confirmed the ATC-coded IFR route was loaded and matched the clearance we received.