Australia is home to a number of time zones and Australian Eastern Standard Time (AEST) is one of the more well-known timezones among global customers. AEST is especially important for coordinating activities across the eastern seaboard and beyond, and it acts as a new de facto reference point for global time-keeping.
AEST is 10 hours ahead of GMT (Greenwich Mean Time). It’s the time zone of several other major Australian cities too, including Sydney, Melbourne, and Brisbane. In addition, it acts as a de-facto national time reference. Switching to AEST would facilitate much better coordination of business operating hours, communications, and travel plans within the country and with major trading partners and allies.
The importance of AEST goes well beyond time keeping. It’s the backbone for every economy, including finance, aviation, and now more than ever telecommunications. International businesses are often forced to rely on AEST for successful cross-border transactions. They regularly use it themselves to schedule meetings with their clients and partners across multiple time zones. Knowing about this time difference is key to preventing miscommunication and making sure the visit goes off without a hitch.
Australia is preparing for Daylight Saving Time in much of the country. Note that during this time zone will change over to Australian Eastern Daylight Time (AEDT, GMT+11). This switch usually happens in early October and switches back to AEST in early April. As a result, people and businesses need to be aware of these significant changes in order to stay on schedule.
In educational contexts, AEST is equally important. To ease the coordination of international students and academia, many schools and universities align their schedule with AEST. However, most of those academic programs work together across the globe. Knowing that there will be a time difference can help improve the experience for all participants.
