diff --git a/flink-python/pom.xml b/flink-python/pom.xml
index 3e62acf94c60a..2a9e02f6dc8c3 100644
--- a/flink-python/pom.xml
+++ b/flink-python/pom.xml
@@ -205,6 +205,14 @@ under the License.
 			<artifactId>flink-test-utils-junit</artifactId>
 		</dependency>
 
+		<dependency>
+			<!-- Indirectly accessed in pyflink_gateway_server -->
+			<groupId>org.apache.flink</groupId>
+			<artifactId>flink-sql-avro</artifactId>
+			<version>${project.version}</version>
+			<scope>test</scope>
+		</dependency>
+
 	</dependencies>
 
 	<dependencyManagement>
diff --git a/flink-python/pyflink/pyflink_gateway_server.py b/flink-python/pyflink/pyflink_gateway_server.py
index 60301da3843a3..dfa1dd0f3a4ec 100644
--- a/flink-python/pyflink/pyflink_gateway_server.py
+++ b/flink-python/pyflink/pyflink_gateway_server.py
@@ -20,14 +20,12 @@
 import glob
 import os
 import platform
-import re
 import signal
 import socket
 import sys
-import time
 from collections import namedtuple
 from string import Template
-from subprocess import Popen, PIPE, check_output, CalledProcessError
+from subprocess import Popen, PIPE
 
 from pyflink.find_flink_home import _find_flink_home, _find_flink_source_root
 
@@ -213,47 +211,12 @@ def construct_hadoop_classpath(env):
                  read_from_config(KEY_ENV_HBASE_CONF_DIR, hbase_conf_dir, flink_conf_file))])
 
 
-def download_apache_avro():
-    """
-    Currently we need to download the Apache Avro manually to avoid test failure caused by the avro
-    format sql jar. See https://issues.apache.org/jira/browse/FLINK-17417. If the issue is fixed,
-    this method could be removed. Using maven command copy the jars in repository to avoid accessing
-    external network.
-    """
-    flink_source_root = _find_flink_source_root()
-    avro_jar_pattern = os.path.join(
-        flink_source_root, "flink-formats", "flink-avro", "target", "avro*.jar")
-    if len(glob.glob(avro_jar_pattern)) > 0:
-        # the avro jar already existed, just return.
-        return
-    mvn = "mvn.cmd" if on_windows() else "mvn"
-    avro_version_output = check_output(
-        [mvn, "help:evaluate", "-Dexpression=avro.version"],
-        cwd=flink_source_root).decode("utf-8")
-    lines = avro_version_output.replace("\r", "").split("\n")
-    avro_version = None
-    for line in lines:
-        if line.strip() != "" and re.match(r'^[0-9]+\.[0-9]+(\.[0-9]+)?$', line.strip()):
-            avro_version = line
-            break
-    if avro_version is None:
-        raise Exception("The Apache Avro version is not found in the maven command output:\n %s" %
-                        avro_version_output)
-    check_output(
-        [mvn,
-         "org.apache.maven.plugins:maven-dependency-plugin:3.2.0:copy",
-         "-Dartifact=org.apache.avro:avro:%s:jar" % avro_version,
-         "-DoutputDirectory=%s/flink-formats/flink-avro/target" % flink_source_root],
-        cwd=flink_source_root)
-
-
 def construct_test_classpath():
     test_jar_patterns = [
         "flink-runtime/target/flink-runtime*tests.jar",
         "flink-streaming-java/target/flink-streaming-java*tests.jar",
         "flink-formats/flink-csv/target/flink-csv*.jar",
-        "flink-formats/flink-avro/target/flink-avro*.jar",
-        "flink-formats/flink-avro/target/avro*.jar",
+        "flink-formats/flink-sql-avro/target/flink-sql-avro*.jar",
         "flink-formats/flink-json/target/flink-json*.jar",
         "flink-python/target/artifacts/testDataStream.jar",
         "flink-python/target/flink-python*-tests.jar",
@@ -291,25 +254,6 @@ def launch_gateway_server_process(env, args):
         classpath = os.pathsep.join(
             [construct_flink_classpath(env), construct_hadoop_classpath(env)])
         if "FLINK_TESTING" in env:
-            total_retry_times = 3
-            retry_times = 0
-            status = 0
-            error = None
-            while retry_times < total_retry_times and not status:
-                retry_times += 1
-                try:
-                    download_apache_avro()
-                    status = 1
-                except CalledProcessError as e:
-                    status = 0
-                    error = e
-                    print("{0} retry download, {1} retries remaining".format(
-                        retry_times, total_retry_times - retry_times))
-                    # sleep 3 seconds and then re-download.
-                    time.sleep(3)
-            if retry_times == total_retry_times and not status:
-                raise error
-
             classpath = os.pathsep.join([classpath, construct_test_classpath()])
         command = [java_executable, jvm_args, jvm_opts] + log_settings \
             + ["-cp", classpath, program_args.main_class] + program_args.other_args