diff --git a/builtin/providers/aws/data_source_availability_zones.go b/builtin/providers/aws/data_source_availability_zones.go
index fd3a6f18a..a9a9d501f 100644
--- a/builtin/providers/aws/data_source_availability_zones.go
+++ b/builtin/providers/aws/data_source_availability_zones.go
@@ -21,6 +21,11 @@ func dataSourceAwsAvailabilityZones() *schema.Resource {
 				Computed: true,
 				Elem:     &schema.Schema{Type: schema.TypeString},
 			},
+			"state": &schema.Schema{
+				Type:         schema.TypeString,
+				Optional:     true,
+				ValidateFunc: validateStateType,
+			},
 		},
 	}
 }
@@ -28,25 +33,55 @@ func dataSourceAwsAvailabilityZones() *schema.Resource {
 func dataSourceAwsAvailabilityZonesRead(d *schema.ResourceData, meta interface{}) error {
 	conn := meta.(*AWSClient).ec2conn
 
-	log.Printf("[DEBUG] Reading availability zones")
+	log.Printf("[DEBUG] Reading Availability Zones.")
 	d.SetId(time.Now().UTC().String())
 
-	req := &ec2.DescribeAvailabilityZonesInput{DryRun: aws.Bool(false)}
-	azresp, err := conn.DescribeAvailabilityZones(req)
-	if err != nil {
-		return fmt.Errorf("Error listing availability zones: %s", err)
+	request := &ec2.DescribeAvailabilityZonesInput{}
+
+	if v, ok := d.GetOk("state"); ok {
+		request.Filters = []*ec2.Filter{
+			&ec2.Filter{
+				Name:   aws.String("state"),
+				Values: []*string{aws.String(v.(string))},
+			},
+		}
 	}
 
-	raw := make([]string, len(azresp.AvailabilityZones))
-	for i, v := range azresp.AvailabilityZones {
+	log.Printf("[DEBUG] Availability Zones request options: %#v", *request)
+
+	resp, err := conn.DescribeAvailabilityZones(request)
+	if err != nil {
+		return fmt.Errorf("Error fetching Availability Zones: %s", err)
+	}
+
+	raw := make([]string, len(resp.AvailabilityZones))
+	for i, v := range resp.AvailabilityZones {
 		raw[i] = *v.ZoneName
 	}
 
 	sort.Strings(raw)
 
 	if err := d.Set("names", raw); err != nil {
-		return fmt.Errorf("[WARN] Error setting availability zones")
+		return fmt.Errorf("[WARN] Error setting Availability Zones: %s", err)
 	}
 
 	return nil
 }
+
+func validateStateType(v interface{}, k string) (ws []string, errors []error) {
+	value := v.(string)
+
+	validState := map[string]bool{
+		"available":   true,
+		"information": true,
+		"impaired":    true,
+		"unavailable": true,
+	}
+
+	if !validState[value] {
+		errors = append(errors, fmt.Errorf(
+			"%q contains an invalid Availability Zone state %q. Valid states are: %q, %q, %q and %q.",
+			k, value, "available", "information", "impaired", "unavailable"))
+	}
+	return
+}
diff --git a/builtin/providers/aws/data_source_availability_zones_test.go b/builtin/providers/aws/data_source_availability_zones_test.go
index 86060fb8f..7dbae2398 100644
--- a/builtin/providers/aws/data_source_availability_zones_test.go
+++ b/builtin/providers/aws/data_source_availability_zones_test.go
@@ -22,6 +22,12 @@ func TestAccAWSAvailabilityZones_basic(t *testing.T) {
 					testAccCheckAwsAvailabilityZonesMeta("data.aws_availability_zones.availability_zones"),
 				),
 			},
+			resource.TestStep{
+				Config: testAccCheckAwsAvailabilityZonesStateConfig,
+				Check: resource.ComposeTestCheckFunc(
+					testAccCheckAwsAvailabilityZoneState("data.aws_availability_zones.state_filter"),
+				),
+			},
 		},
 	})
 }
@@ -34,7 +40,7 @@ func testAccCheckAwsAvailabilityZonesMeta(n string) resource.TestCheckFunc {
 		}
 
 		if rs.Primary.ID == "" {
-			return fmt.Errorf("AZ resource ID not set")
+			return fmt.Errorf("AZ resource ID not set.")
 		}
 
 		actual, err := testAccCheckAwsAvailabilityZonesBuildAvailable(rs.Primary.Attributes)
@@ -51,10 +57,33 @@ func testAccCheckAwsAvailabilityZonesMeta(n string) resource.TestCheckFunc {
 	}
 }
 
+func testAccCheckAwsAvailabilityZoneState(n string) resource.TestCheckFunc {
+	return func(s *terraform.State) error {
+		rs, ok := s.RootModule().Resources[n]
+		if !ok {
+			return fmt.Errorf("Can't find AZ resource: %s", n)
+		}
+
+		if rs.Primary.ID == "" {
+			return fmt.Errorf("AZ resource ID not set.")
+		}
+
+		if _, ok := rs.Primary.Attributes["state"]; !ok {
+			return fmt.Errorf("AZs state filter is missing, should be set.")
+		}
+
+		_, err := testAccCheckAwsAvailabilityZonesBuildAvailable(rs.Primary.Attributes)
+		if err != nil {
+			return err
+		}
+		return nil
+	}
+}
+
 func testAccCheckAwsAvailabilityZonesBuildAvailable(attrs map[string]string) ([]string, error) {
 	v, ok := attrs["names.#"]
 	if !ok {
-		return nil, fmt.Errorf("Available AZ list is missing")
+		return nil, fmt.Errorf("Available AZ list is missing.")
 	}
 	qty, err := strconv.Atoi(v)
 	if err != nil {
@@ -67,7 +96,7 @@ func testAccCheckAwsAvailabilityZonesBuildAvailable(attrs map[string]string) ([]
 	for n := range zones {
 		zone, ok := attrs["names."+strconv.Itoa(n)]
 		if !ok {
-			return nil, fmt.Errorf("AZ list corrupt, this is definitely a bug")
+			return nil, fmt.Errorf("AZ list corrupt, this is definitely a bug.")
 		}
 		zones[n] = zone
 	}
@@ -75,6 +104,11 @@ func testAccCheckAwsAvailabilityZonesBuildAvailable(attrs map[string]string) ([]
 }
 
 const testAccCheckAwsAvailabilityZonesConfig = `
-data "aws_availability_zones" "availability_zones" {
+data "aws_availability_zones" "availability_zones" { }
+`
+
+const testAccCheckAwsAvailabilityZonesStateConfig = `
+data "aws_availability_zones" "state_filter" {
+	state = "available"
 }
 `
diff --git a/website/source/docs/providers/aws/d/availability_zones.html.markdown b/website/source/docs/providers/aws/d/availability_zones.html.markdown
index e482a142b..0eb87d781 100644
--- a/website/source/docs/providers/aws/d/availability_zones.html.markdown
+++ b/website/source/docs/providers/aws/d/availability_zones.html.markdown
@@ -3,7 +3,7 @@ layout: "aws"
 page_title: "AWS: aws_availability_zones"
 sidebar_current: "docs-aws-datasource-availability-zones"
 description: |-
-    Provides a list of availability zones which can be used by an AWS account
+    Provides a list of Availability Zones which can be used by an AWS account.
 ---
 
 # aws\_availability\_zones
@@ -35,10 +35,15 @@ resource "aws_subnet" "secondary" {
 
 ## Argument Reference
 
-There are no arguments for this data source.
+The following arguments are supported:
+
+* `state` - (Optional) Allows to filter list of Availability Zones based on their
+current state. Can be either `"available"`, `"information"`, `"impaired"` or
+`"unavailable"`. By default the list includes a complete set of Availability Zones
+to which the underlying AWS account has access, regardless of their state.
 
 ## Attributes Reference
 
 The following attributes are exported:
 
-* `names` - A list of the availability zone names available to the account.
+* `names` - A list of the Availability Zone names available to the account.