Definition
An air traffic flow management procedure in which arriving aircraft are spaced and sequenced by ATC before they reach the terminal area surrounding a busy airport, so they cross the terminal airspace boundary at the correct interval to match the airport's arrival rate.
Plain English
Controllers slow aircraft down or adjust their spacing while they are still en route, so that by the time they reach the busy airspace around an airport, they are already arriving at a manageable rate.
Context Anchor
Seen in arrival traffic management, especially near busy airports where Center controllers feed aircraft to terminal controllers.
Derivation
Metered comes from the Greek 'metron,' meaning 'measure.' A meter measures and regulates flow — the same idea applies here: ATC measures and regulates the flow of arriving aircraft.
Why Pilots Care
Prevents congestion, reduces holding time, and improves fuel efficiency and safety during high-traffic arrivals.
Grounding Statement
Picture several airplanes all headed toward the same busy airport; ATC starts spacing them out before they reach the airport area, not after they are already crowded together there.
Intuition Check
Do not read “metered” as something being counted on an instrument. Here it means the flow of aircraft is being timed and spaced by ATC before reaching the terminal area.
Example Sentence 1
Arrivals into the busy hub were metered prior to entering terminal airspace, so we received a speed reduction 200 miles out.
Example Sentence 2
Due to heavy traffic, ATC began metering aircraft prior to entering terminal airspace at the destination airport.