diff --git a/jupyterhub/tests/test_app.py b/jupyterhub/tests/test_app.py
index 65f99c56..2a524e62 100644
--- a/jupyterhub/tests/test_app.py
+++ b/jupyterhub/tests/test_app.py
@@ -7,7 +7,6 @@ import os
 import re
 import sys
 import time
-from distutils.version import LooseVersion as V
 from subprocess import PIPE, Popen, check_output
 from tempfile import NamedTemporaryFile, TemporaryDirectory
 from unittest.mock import patch