Egypt adjusts clocks once again

Egypt has rolled back clocks one hour for the end of daylight savings time, the fourth change in less than five months.

As of midnight on Thursday, Egypt is two hours ahead of Greenwich Mean Time and six hours ahead of Eastern Standard Time.

The switch between summer and winter time was abandoned after the 2011 uprising that ousted president Hosni Mubarak. But then it was abruptly revived in May when the clocks sprung forward in a move aimed at alleviating rolling power blackouts.

However, just weeks later the clocks fell back again at the start of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan – which this year fell at the hottest point of the summer – to shorten the daily dawn-to-dusk fast.

The clocks returned to summer time when Ramadan ended in July, but now winter has come again, despite the fact that daytime temperatures still hover around 30C.

The initial switch in May caused widespread disruptions, particularly at the airport, when local flight times were changed at the last minute.

There were no reports of major disruptions this time around. 

Egypt Air, the country’s main airline, changed the local timing of several flights and advised passengers to arrive three hours early instead of the normal two in order to avoid any confusion, according to the state-run Al-Ahram daily.