diff --git a/terraform/modules/services/airflow/docker-compose.yml b/terraform/modules/services/airflow/docker-compose.yml
index ad6816a6..159e43dc 100644
--- a/terraform/modules/services/airflow/docker-compose.yml
+++ b/terraform/modules/services/airflow/docker-compose.yml
@@ -1,5 +1,3 @@
-
-
 volumes:
   data:
 
@@ -21,8 +19,6 @@ services:
       - data:/airflow
 
   scheduler:
-    # depends_on:
-    # - "airflowinit"
     image: apache/airflow:2.6.2
     container_name: airflow-scheduler
     command: scheduler
@@ -48,14 +44,15 @@ services:
     user: "${AIRFLOW_UID:-50000}:0"
     volumes:
       - data:/airflow
+    depends_on:
+      airflowinit:
+        condition: service_completed_successfully
 
 
   webserver:
     image: apache/airflow:2.6.2
     container_name: airflow-webserver
     command: webserver -w 4
-    # depends_on:
-    # - "airflowinit"
     ports:
       - 80:8080
     restart: always
@@ -81,32 +78,38 @@ services:
     user: "${AIRFLOW_UID:-50000}:0"
     volumes:
       - data:/airflow
+    depends_on:
+      airflowinit:
+        condition: service_completed_successfully
 
 
   # only need to run this once. Ref 3d1a6b8 has this uncommented.
-  #  airflowinit:
-  #    image: apache/airflow:2.6.2
-  #    container_name: airflow-init
-  #    environment:
-  #      AIRFLOW__CORE__FERNET_KEY: ${FERNET_KEY}
-  #      SECRET_KEY: ${SECRET_KEY}
-  #      AIRFLOW__WEBSERVER__SECRET_KEY: ${SECRET_KEY}
-  #      AIRFLOW__DATABASE__SQL_ALCHEMY_CONN: ${DB_URL}
-  #      _AIRFLOW_DB_UPGRADE: 'True'
-  #      _AIRFLOW_WWW_USER_CREATE: 'True'
-  #      _AIRFLOW_WWW_USER_USERNAME: 'airflow'
-  #      _AIRFLOW_WWW_USER_PASSWORD: ${PASSWORD}
-  #      AIRFLOW__CORE__DAGS_FOLDER: "/airflow/dags"
-  #      AIRFLOW__LOGGING__BASE_LOG_FOLDER: "/airflow/logs"
-  #      AIRFLOW_UID: "50000"
-  #    user: "${AIRFLOW_UID:-50000}:0"
-  #    command: >
-  #      bash -c "pip install apache-airflow[amazon]
-  #      && mkdir -p /airflow/logs /airflow/dags /airflow/plugins
-  #      && chmod -v 777 /airflow/{logs,dags}
-  #      && airflow db init -v"
-  #    volumes:
-  #      - data:/airflow
+  airflowinit:
+    image: apache/airflow:2.6.2
+    container_name: airflow-init
+    environment:
+      AIRFLOW__CORE__FERNET_KEY: ${FERNET_KEY}
+      SECRET_KEY: ${SECRET_KEY}
+      AIRFLOW__WEBSERVER__SECRET_KEY: ${SECRET_KEY}
+      AIRFLOW__DATABASE__SQL_ALCHEMY_CONN: ${DB_URL}
+      _AIRFLOW_DB_UPGRADE: 'True'
+      _AIRFLOW_WWW_USER_CREATE: 'True'
+      _AIRFLOW_WWW_USER_USERNAME: 'airflow'
+      _AIRFLOW_WWW_USER_PASSWORD: ${PASSWORD}
+      AIRFLOW__CORE__DAGS_FOLDER: "/airflow/dags"
+      AIRFLOW__LOGGING__BASE_LOG_FOLDER: "/airflow/logs"
+      AIRFLOW_UID: "50000"
+    user: "${AIRFLOW_UID:-50000}:0"
+    command: >
+      bash -c "echo 'Installing dependencies'
+      && pip install --quiet apache-airflow[amazon]
+      && echo 'Making directories'
+      && mkdir -p /airflow/logs /airflow/dags /airflow/plugins
+      && chmod -v 777 /airflow/{logs,dags}
+      && echo 'Initializing database'
+      && airflow db init -v"
+    volumes:
+      - data:/airflow
 
   sync-s3:
     image: amazon/aws-cli
@@ -122,5 +125,6 @@ services:
       ENVIRONMENT: $ENVIRONMENT
       BUCKET: $BUCKET
     restart: always
-    # depends_on:
-    # - "airflowinit"
+    depends_on:
+      airflowinit:
+        condition: service_completed_successfully