diff --git a/airflow/utils/log/json_formatter.py b/airflow/utils/log/json_formatter.py
index 1d90bc396d9c79..3cf45302accc2d 100644
--- a/airflow/utils/log/json_formatter.py
+++ b/airflow/utils/log/json_formatter.py
@@ -53,6 +53,9 @@ def __init__(self, fmt=None, datefmt=None, json_fields=None, extras=None):
         self.json_fields = json_fields
         self.extras = extras
 
+    def usesTime(self):
+        return self.json_fields.count('asctime') > 0
+
     def format(self, record):
         super(JSONFormatter, self).format(record)
         record_dict = {label: getattr(record, label, None)
diff --git a/tests/utils/log/test_json_formatter.py b/tests/utils/log/test_json_formatter.py
index 5c305c9ecd50ac..1608d810e7e480 100644
--- a/tests/utils/log/test_json_formatter.py
+++ b/tests/utils/log/test_json_formatter.py
@@ -75,6 +75,15 @@ def test_merge_dicts_recursive_right_only(self):
         merged = merge_dicts(dict1, dict2)
         self.assertDictEqual(merged, {'a': 1, 'r': {'b': 0, 'c': 3}})
 
+    def test_uses_time(self):
+        """
+        Test usesTime method from JSONFormatter
+        """
+        json_fmt_asctime = JSONFormatter(json_fields=["asctime", "label"])
+        json_fmt_no_asctime = JSONFormatter(json_fields=["label"])
+        self.assertTrue(json_fmt_asctime.usesTime())
+        self.assertFalse(json_fmt_no_asctime.usesTime())
+
     def test_format(self):
         """
         Test format method from JSONFormatter