Definition
Enroute ARTCCs are FAA facilities that provide air traffic control services to aircraft operating on IFR flight plans during the cruise phase of flight, primarily in controlled airspace between terminal areas. They manage traffic across large geographic regions, handing aircraft off between adjacent centers and to terminal facilities (approach and tower) as flights transition between phases. There are 22 ARTCCs covering the contiguous United States, Alaska, Hawaii, Puerto Rico, and Guam.
Plain English
These are the air traffic control centers that watch over airplanes while they are flying high and far between airports, rather than near them. Each center handles a big chunk of the country's airspace.
Context Anchor
Seen in instrument flying and NextGen discussions about how air traffic control manages aircraft between airport-area control facilities.
Derivation
"Enroute" comes from the French en route, meaning "on the way" — pointing to the cruise phase, between departure and arrival. "ARTCC" stands for Air Route Traffic Control Center: the facilities that control traffic along the air routes connecting terminal areas.
Why Pilots Care
These centers maintain safe separation and efficient routing for IFR traffic across the country, directly affecting flight planning and in-flight updates.
Intuition Check
Do not read enroute ARTCCs as just any controllers somewhere along the trip. In this context, it means the FAA regional Centers responsible for controlling aircraft between the departure and arrival airport areas.
Example Sentence 1
After departure, the tower handed us off to approach, who then passed us to Denver Center — one of the enroute ARTCCs covering our route.
Example Sentence 2
Hand-off from approach control to the enroute ARTCC occurred smoothly once the aircraft left the terminal area.