Definition
A standardized taxi route at a specific airport that directs aircraft along a published, pre-named path generally toward or from the northern portion of the airport. Standardized taxi routes are published by the airport and ATC to reduce read-back length, prevent confusion on complex airfields, and allow controllers to issue a single route name in place of a long string of taxiway letters.
Plain English
A pre-set taxi path at an airport that has been given the name 'North Route' so the controller can clear you along it by name instead of reading out every taxiway.
Context Anchor
Seen in discussions of standardized taxi routes and heard in taxi instructions at larger or more complex airports.
Why Pilots Care
Using the named route reduces radio chatter and the chance of missing a taxi instruction on complex airport surfaces.
Intuition Check
North Route does not mean any route that points north. It means the specific airport taxi path identified by that name in the procedure or clearance.
Example Sentence 1
Ground cleared us to the gate via the North Route, so we pulled out the airport taxi chart to follow the published path.
Example Sentence 2
We followed the North Route and avoided crossing the active runway.