Convert AKST to AST

AST is 5 hours ahead of AKST. AKST is UTC−9 and AST is UTC−4.

Which AST is this?

AST names more than one zone. This page reads it as Atlantic Standard Time at UTC−4, which is the reading most converters take. There is one other: Arabia Standard Time at UTC+3, used in Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar and Yemen.

The letters on a meeting invitation do not say which one is meant. If yours is not Atlantic Standard Time, the answer above is wrong, and not by a little:

The large converter sites disagree about this as well: search for a AST conversion and some of the results answer for one reading and some for another, none of them saying which they chose. Where it matters, ask which country the sender is in rather than which letters they typed.

Best time to schedule a meeting

Standard 9–5 working hours overlap for 3 hours: 9:00 AM–12:00 PM AKST (2:00 PM–5:00 PM AST). Schedule meetings inside that window.

AKST to AST conversion table

About AKST

Alaska Standard Time (AKST) is UTC−9. It is used in Anchorage and the rest of Alaska in winter.

Alaska Standard Time is UTC−9, one hour behind Pacific Standard Time. Alaska observes daylight saving on the US schedule, moving to AKDT at UTC−8 in summer. The state is wide enough to span four time zones geographically and chooses to run on one for practical reasons, which is why the sun can rise at very different clock times at either end of it.

About AST

Atlantic Standard Time (AST) is UTC−4. It is used in Halifax, Puerto Rico and the eastern Caribbean in winter.

Atlantic Standard Time is UTC−4, one hour ahead of Eastern. It covers Canada's Atlantic provinces, Puerto Rico and much of the eastern Caribbean, and it is the reason a call from Halifax to Toronto is an hour out from what either party expects. The abbreviation is also used for Arabia Standard Time at UTC+3, seven hours away in the other direction, which is a genuinely dangerous collision in scheduling.

Does this gap change with the seasons?

Neither AKST nor AST shifts with the seasons, so this 5-hour difference holds all year. That is unusual enough to be worth relying on: most cross-continental gaps move twice a year.

This is the reason scheduling systems store an IANA zone such as Region/City rather than an offset or an abbreviation: the zone knows its own rules and the offset does not.

Frequently asked questions

Other AKST conversions

• AKST to UTC
• AKST to GMT
• AKST to EST
• AKST to EDT
• AKST to CST
• AKST to CDT
• AKST to MST
• AKST to MDT
• AKST to PST
• AKST to PDT
• AKST to HST
• AKST to BRT
• AKST to BST
• AKST to CET
• AKST to CEST
• AKST to EET

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