In an unusual move, a new time zone will take effect in South America from the 1st of May. As part of a measure to battle an energy crisis in Venezuela, the president also gave the public sector every Friday off until at least June 6th – to save electricity.
In addition, the entire country will change timezone from UTC -4h30 to UTC-4 from 01MAY, to ensure more daylight in the evening when energy consumption peaks.
At SVMI/Simon Bolivar, Primary radar has been off the air since 04APR – and remains out of service until the end of May – it’s unclear if this is electricity related.
If operating to Venezuela after 01MAY, local time will therefore be 4 hours behind UTC.
More on the topic:
- More: Delays and Diversions at TNCM/St Maarten
- More: World Cup 2026 Ops Guide – USA, Mexico and Canada
- More: FAA Warns on Runway Length Data and Overrun Risk
- More: EASA’s New Cyber and Data Risk Rule for Operators in Europe
- More: Airport Spy: Real World Reports from Crews
More reading:
- Latest: Delays and Diversions at TNCM/St Maarten
- Latest: World Cup 2026 Ops Guide – USA, Mexico and Canada
- Latest: FAA Warns on Runway Length Data and Overrun Risk
- Safe Airspace: Risk Database
- Weekly Ops Bulletin: Subscribe
- Membership plans: Why join OPSGROUP?
Get the famous weekly 
Thanks Guillermo, you’re right – we’ve updated the article.
The time change is UTC -4 and not UTC -5 as mentioned here, please research and correct the information you are distributing.