Definition
An ATC clearance authorizing an aircraft to proceed through a specific airspace, fix, area, or route segment that would otherwise require a separate clearance to enter or transit. The clearance covers the named point or area as part of the continuing route.
Plain English
ATC is letting you pass through a place or route segment without needing to ask again when you get there. You are pre-approved to go through it.
Context Anchor
Used in ATC clearances when a flight has planned intermediate stops before reaching its final cleared destination.
Derivation
Clear comes from an older word meaning bright or plainly understood. In aviation, cleared came to mean officially authorized by ATC. Through keeps its normal sense of continuing past an intermediate point, which helps explain that the flight may continue beyond the stop.
Why Pilots Care
Allows efficient routing through busy airspace without the extra steps or requirements of a landing clearance.
Intuition Check
Do not read Cleared Through as simply “allowed to pass through an area.” In this FAA use, it means authorized to make planned intermediate stops and continue under the same flight plan.
Example Sentence 1
Cessna 24G is cleared through the Class C airspace, maintain VFR, contact tower at the river.
Example Sentence 2
We asked to be cleared through the airport area instead of requesting a full arrival.