diff --git a/python/pyspark/java_gateway.py b/python/pyspark/java_gateway.py
index 3cee4ea6e3a35..90cd342a6cf7f 100644
--- a/python/pyspark/java_gateway.py
+++ b/python/pyspark/java_gateway.py
@@ -51,6 +51,8 @@ def launch_gateway():
         on_windows = platform.system() == "Windows"
         script = "./bin/spark-submit.cmd" if on_windows else "./bin/spark-submit"
         submit_args = os.environ.get("PYSPARK_SUBMIT_ARGS", "pyspark-shell")
+        if os.environ.get("SPARK_TESTING"):
+            submit_args = "--conf spark.ui.enabled=false " + submit_args
         command = [os.path.join(SPARK_HOME, script)] + shlex.split(submit_args)
 
         # Start a socket that will be used by PythonGatewayServer to communicate its port to us