diff --git a/charts/calicoctl-utility/values.yaml b/charts/calicoctl-utility/values.yaml
index 6ed66d1c..d5f4a68b 100644
--- a/charts/calicoctl-utility/values.yaml
+++ b/charts/calicoctl-utility/values.yaml
@@ -19,7 +19,7 @@
 
 images:
   tags:
-    calicoctl_utility: 'quay.io/airshipit/porthole-calicoctl-utility:latest-ubuntu_xenial'
+    calicoctl_utility: 'quay.io/airshipit/porthole-calicoctl-utility:latest-ubuntu_bionic'
     image_repo_sync: docker.io/docker:18.09.02
   pull_policy: IfNotPresent
   local_registry:
diff --git a/images/calicoctl-utility/Dockerfile.ubuntu_xenial b/images/calicoctl-utility/Dockerfile.ubuntu_bionic
similarity index 95%
rename from images/calicoctl-utility/Dockerfile.ubuntu_xenial
rename to images/calicoctl-utility/Dockerfile.ubuntu_bionic
index 14755abe..fe2f4e32 100644
--- a/images/calicoctl-utility/Dockerfile.ubuntu_xenial
+++ b/images/calicoctl-utility/Dockerfile.ubuntu_bionic
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-ARG FROM=docker.io/ubuntu:xenial
+ARG FROM=docker.io/ubuntu:bionic
 ARG DOCKER_REGISTRY=quay.io
 ARG CALICOCTL_IMAGE_PREFIX=calico/ctl
 ARG CALICOCTL_VERSION=v3.4.4
@@ -27,6 +27,8 @@ RUN set -xe \
          locales \
          moreutils \
          sudo \
+         python3 \
+         python3-pip \
          python3-oslo.rootwrap \
          socat \
     && apt-get clean -y \
diff --git a/images/calicoctl-utility/Dockerfile_calicoq_calicoctl.ubuntu_xenial b/images/calicoctl-utility/Dockerfile_calicoq_calicoctl.ubuntu_bionic
similarity index 96%
rename from images/calicoctl-utility/Dockerfile_calicoq_calicoctl.ubuntu_xenial
rename to images/calicoctl-utility/Dockerfile_calicoq_calicoctl.ubuntu_bionic
index f2f9f375..624c5f5a 100644
--- a/images/calicoctl-utility/Dockerfile_calicoq_calicoctl.ubuntu_xenial
+++ b/images/calicoctl-utility/Dockerfile_calicoq_calicoctl.ubuntu_bionic
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-ARG FROM=docker.io/ubuntu:xenial
+ARG FROM=docker.io/ubuntu:bionic
 ARG DOCKER_REGISTRY=quay.io
 ARG CALICOCTL_IMAGE_PREFIX=tigera/calicoctl
 ARG CALICOCTL_VERSION=v2.5.1
@@ -33,6 +33,8 @@ RUN set -xe \
          locales \
          moreutils \
          sudo \
+         python3 \
+         python3-pip \
          python3-oslo.rootwrap \
          socat \
     && apt-get clean -y \
diff --git a/zuul.d/calicoctl-utility.yaml b/zuul.d/calicoctl-utility.yaml
index db91d9d6..e0844386 100644
--- a/zuul.d/calicoctl-utility.yaml
+++ b/zuul.d/calicoctl-utility.yaml
@@ -17,7 +17,7 @@
     parent: &parent airship-porthole-images
     vars:
       image_name: &image_name porthole-calicoctl-utility
-      distro_suffix: &distro_suffix ubuntu_xenial
+      distro_suffix: &distro_suffix ubuntu_bionic
     files:
       - ^charts/calicoctl-utility/.*$
       - ^images/calicoctl-utility/.*$