diff --git a/packages/opentelemetry-resource-util/src/detector/gae.ts b/packages/opentelemetry-resource-util/src/detector/gae.ts
index 9268990a..ad6ddd23 100644
--- a/packages/opentelemetry-resource-util/src/detector/gae.ts
+++ b/packages/opentelemetry-resource-util/src/detector/gae.ts
@@ -76,7 +76,9 @@ export async function flexAvailabilityZoneAndRegion(): Promise<{
  * true before calling this, or it may throw exceptions.
  */
 export async function standardAvailabilityZone(): Promise<string> {
-  return await metadata.instance<string>(ZONE_METADATA_ATTR);
+  const zone = await metadata.instance<string>(ZONE_METADATA_ATTR);
+  // zone is of the form "projects/233510669999/zones/us15"
+  return zone.slice(zone.lastIndexOf('/') + 1);
 }
 
 /**
diff --git a/packages/opentelemetry-resource-util/test/detector/gae.test.ts b/packages/opentelemetry-resource-util/test/detector/gae.test.ts
index 551ae054..4e18d8d3 100644
--- a/packages/opentelemetry-resource-util/test/detector/gae.test.ts
+++ b/packages/opentelemetry-resource-util/test/detector/gae.test.ts
@@ -88,9 +88,12 @@ describe('App Engine (GAE)', () => {
 
   describe('GAE standard zone and region', () => {
     it('detects zone', async () => {
-      metadataStub.instance.withArgs('zone').resolves('us-east4-b');
+      metadataStub.instance
+        .withArgs('zone')
+        .resolves('projects/233510669999/zones/us15');
+
       const zone = await gae.standardAvailabilityZone();
-      assert.strict(zone, 'us-east4-b');
+      assert.strictEqual(zone, 'us15');
     });
 
     it('detects region', async () => {