AST(Arabia Standard Time)
Arabia Standard Time (AST) is the standard time of the western Gulf and the Arabian Peninsula, three hours ahead of UTC.
- UTC offset
- UTC+03:00
- Abbreviation
- AST
- Full name
- Arabia Standard Time
- Military letter
- Charlie (C)
- Regions
- Arabian Peninsula, Iraq
- IANA zones
- Asia/Riyadh, Asia/Kuwait, Asia/Qatar, Asia/Baghdad
- Converter model
- Fixed offset.
What AST means
AST is the civil time of Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, Yemen and Iraq, and is used across the region's financial markets and airlines.
- The countries on this offset keep it all year, so Arabia Standard Time has no seasonal counterpart.
- The United Arab Emirates and Oman sit one hour further east on Gulf Standard Time.
Cities on this offset
These cities keep UTC+03:00 as their standard offset:
- Riyadh
- Kuwait City
- Doha
- Manama
- Baghdad
Other meanings of AST
AST is used for more than one time zone. This page describes Arabia Standard Time; the other meanings have their own pages and their own offsets:
- AST — Atlantic Standard Time (UTC−04:00)
Zones with the same offset
- MSK — Moscow Standard Time (UTC+03:00)
History
The Gulf states standardised on whole-hour offsets during the twentieth century as oil exports and aviation made shared schedules necessary.