diff --git a/numpy/distutils/fcompiler/gnu.py b/numpy/distutils/fcompiler/gnu.py
index becdefad57fb..632c6d97ad19 100644
--- a/numpy/distutils/fcompiler/gnu.py
+++ b/numpy/distutils/fcompiler/gnu.py
@@ -202,8 +202,18 @@ def get_flags_opt(self):
         opt.append('-funroll-loops')
         return opt
 
+    def _c_arch_flags(self):
+        """ Return detected arch flags from CFLAGS """
+        from distutils import sysconfig
+        cflags = sysconfig.get_config_vars()['CFLAGS']
+        arch_re = re.compile(r"-arch\s+(\w+)")
+        arch_flags = []
+        for arch in arch_re.findall(cflags):
+            arch_flags += ['-arch', arch]
+        return arch_flags
+
     def get_flags_arch(self):
-        return []
+        return self._c_arch_flags()
 
 class Gnu95FCompiler(GnuFCompiler):
     compiler_type = 'gnu95'
@@ -249,30 +259,6 @@ def version_match(self, version_string):
 
     g2c = 'gfortran'
 
-    def _universal_flags(self, cmd):
-        """Return a list of -arch flags for every supported architecture."""
-        if not sys.platform == 'darwin':
-            return []
-        arch_flags = []
-        for arch in ["ppc", "i686", "x86_64", "ppc64"]:
-            if _can_target(cmd, arch):
-                arch_flags.extend(["-arch", arch])
-        return arch_flags
-
-    def get_flags(self):
-        flags = GnuFCompiler.get_flags(self)
-        arch_flags = self._universal_flags(self.compiler_f90)
-        if arch_flags:
-            flags[:0] = arch_flags
-        return flags
-
-    def get_flags_linker_so(self):
-        flags = GnuFCompiler.get_flags_linker_so(self)
-        arch_flags = self._universal_flags(self.linker_so)
-        if arch_flags:
-            flags[:0] = arch_flags
-        return flags
-
     def get_library_dirs(self):
         opt = GnuFCompiler.get_library_dirs(self)
         if sys.platform == 'win32':