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Apache Airflow cron expression: every Friday at 5:00 PM
To run a Apache Airflow job every Friday at 5:00 PM, use:
0 17 * * 5At 17:00 UTC, on Fri.
Your week at a glance
Upcoming runs
| # | Local | UTC | From now |
|---|
Copy-ready code
Why use this schedule
An end-of-week run on Friday evening. It closes out the working week, which makes it a natural time for weekly invoices, summaries, and backups before the quiet weekend hours.
- Weekly invoicing
- End-of-week summaries
- Pre-weekend backups
First runs, as an example
Starting from 1 January 2027, evaluated in UTC:
| # | Date and time (UTC) |
|---|---|
| 1 | Fri, 01 Jan 2027, 17:00:00 |
| 2 | Fri, 08 Jan 2027, 17:00:00 |
| 3 | Fri, 15 Jan 2027, 17:00:00 |
| 4 | Fri, 22 Jan 2027, 17:00:00 |
| 5 | Fri, 29 Jan 2027, 17:00:00 |
| 6 | Fri, 05 Feb 2027, 17:00:00 |
Every Friday at 5:00 PM in every dialect
| System | Expression |
|---|---|
| Apache Airflow (this page) | 0 17 * * 5 |
| Quartz | 0 0 17 ? * 6 |
| Spring | 0 0 17 * * 5 |
| Crontab | 0 17 * * 5 |
| Kubernetes | 0 17 * * 5 |
| AWS EventBridge | 0 17 ? * 6 * |
| Jenkins | H 17 * * 5 |
| GitHub Actions | 0 17 * * 5 |
| node-cron | 0 17 * * 5 |
| Azure Functions | 0 0 17 * * 5 |
| Google Cloud Scheduler | 0 17 * * 5 |
Need to translate a different expression? Use the cron converter.
Ready-to-use Apache Airflow config
Drop this into your project. The expression is the one above.
from datetime import datetime
from airflow import DAG
from airflow.operators.empty import EmptyOperator
with DAG(
dag_id="my_dag",
start_date=datetime(2026, 1, 1),
schedule="0 17 * * 5", # schedule_interval= before Airflow 2.4
catchup=False,
):
EmptyOperator(task_id="start")The Apache Airflow fields, in order: minute (0-59), hour (0-23), day-of-month (1-31), month (1-12), day-of-week (0-7, 0 and 7 = Sunday).
Things to watch out for in Apache Airflow
- Weekdays are 0-6 with Sunday as 0, or names such as MON-FRI.
- A scheduled run starts after its data interval ends, so a daily 0 0 * * * run processes yesterday's interval just after midnight. Set catchup=False if you do not want backfills.
- Airflow defaults to UTC. On a time-zone-aware DAG a cron schedule follows wall-clock time, so a daily 00:00 US/Eastern run moves between 04:00 and 05:00 UTC across daylight saving changes.
The common mistake with this schedule
Friday is 5 in Unix and 6 in Quartz. A direct copy between them shifts the job by a day.
Frequently asked questions
How do I run a Apache Airflow job every Friday at 5:00 PM?
Use 0 17 * * 5. At 17:00 UTC, on Fri.
What is the every Friday at 5:00 PM cron expression in other systems?
Quartz: 0 0 17 ? * 6; Spring: 0 0 17 * * 5; Crontab: 0 17 * * 5. The table on this page lists every dialect.
Which time zone does Apache Airflow use for this schedule?
Airflow defaults to UTC. On a time-zone-aware DAG a cron schedule follows wall-clock time, so a daily 00:00 US/Eastern run moves between 04:00 and 05:00 UTC across daylight saving changes.