diff --git a/airflow/config_templates/config.yml b/airflow/config_templates/config.yml
index 2170f8f126821..f5d80e3712c87 100644
--- a/airflow/config_templates/config.yml
+++ b/airflow/config_templates/config.yml
@@ -174,13 +174,22 @@
       default: "16"
     - name: load_examples
       description: |
-        Whether to load the examples that ship with Airflow. It's good to
+        Whether to load the DAG examples that ship with Airflow. It's good to
         get started, but you probably want to set this to False in a production
         environment
       version_added: ~
       type: string
       example: ~
       default: "True"
+    - name: load_default_connections
+      description: |
+        Whether to load the default connections that ship with Airflow. It's good to
+        get started, but you probably want to set this to False in a production
+        environment
+      version_added: 1.10.10
+      type: string
+      example: ~
+      default: "True"
     - name: plugins_folder
       description: |
         Where your Airflow plugins are stored
diff --git a/airflow/config_templates/default_airflow.cfg b/airflow/config_templates/default_airflow.cfg
index 0ac0c77d5bcee..9d18acee0a13c 100644
--- a/airflow/config_templates/default_airflow.cfg
+++ b/airflow/config_templates/default_airflow.cfg
@@ -113,11 +113,16 @@ dags_are_paused_at_creation = True
 # The maximum number of active DAG runs per DAG
 max_active_runs_per_dag = 16
 
-# Whether to load the examples that ship with Airflow. It's good to
+# Whether to load the DAG examples that ship with Airflow. It's good to
 # get started, but you probably want to set this to False in a production
 # environment
 load_examples = True
 
+# Whether to load the default connections that ship with Airflow. It's good to
+# get started, but you probably want to set this to False in a production
+# environment
+load_default_connections = True
+
 # Where your Airflow plugins are stored
 plugins_folder = {AIRFLOW_HOME}/plugins
 
diff --git a/airflow/config_templates/default_test.cfg b/airflow/config_templates/default_test.cfg
index 932754a4014a4..a838c3fac6967 100644
--- a/airflow/config_templates/default_test.cfg
+++ b/airflow/config_templates/default_test.cfg
@@ -35,6 +35,7 @@ plugins_folder = {TEST_PLUGINS_FOLDER}
 executor = SequentialExecutor
 sql_alchemy_conn = sqlite:///{AIRFLOW_HOME}/unittests.db
 load_examples = True
+load_default_connections = True
 donot_pickle = True
 dag_concurrency = 16
 dags_are_paused_at_creation = False
diff --git a/airflow/utils/db.py b/airflow/utils/db.py
index c6e7cd4262b90..4568b50cc8a4c 100644
--- a/airflow/utils/db.py
+++ b/airflow/utils/db.py
@@ -503,7 +503,8 @@ def initdb():
     """
     upgradedb()
 
-    create_default_connections()
+    if conf.getboolean('core', 'LOAD_DEFAULT_CONNECTIONS'):
+        create_default_connections()
 
     dagbag = DagBag()
     # Save DAGs in the ORM
diff --git a/scripts/ci/in_container/airflow_ci.cfg b/scripts/ci/in_container/airflow_ci.cfg
index fc89615ba8be1..87df5167bb3b8 100644
--- a/scripts/ci/in_container/airflow_ci.cfg
+++ b/scripts/ci/in_container/airflow_ci.cfg
@@ -22,6 +22,7 @@ executor = LocalExecutor
 sql_alchemy_conn = # overridden by the startup scripts
 unit_test_mode = True
 load_examples = True
+load_default_connections = True
 donot_pickle = False
 dags_are_paused_at_creation = False
 default_impersonation =
diff --git a/scripts/ci/in_container/kubernetes/app/templates/configmaps.template.yaml b/scripts/ci/in_container/kubernetes/app/templates/configmaps.template.yaml
index 5bc21dbb6979b..722150371be44 100644
--- a/scripts/ci/in_container/kubernetes/app/templates/configmaps.template.yaml
+++ b/scripts/ci/in_container/kubernetes/app/templates/configmaps.template.yaml
@@ -27,6 +27,7 @@ data:
     executor = KubernetesExecutor
     parallelism = 32
     load_examples = False
+    load_default_connections = True
     plugins_folder = /root/airflow/plugins
     sql_alchemy_conn = $SQL_ALCHEMY_CONN
 
diff --git a/scripts/perf/sql_queries.py b/scripts/perf/sql_queries.py
index 5d3dad74a25d2..344203f37e8b7 100644
--- a/scripts/perf/sql_queries.py
+++ b/scripts/perf/sql_queries.py
@@ -27,6 +27,7 @@
 os.environ["AIRFLOW__CORE__DAGS_FOLDER"] = DAG_FOLDER
 os.environ["AIRFLOW__DEBUG__SQLALCHEMY_STATS"] = "True"
 os.environ["AIRFLOW__CORE__LOAD_EXAMPLES"] = "False"
+os.environ["AIRFLOW__CORE__LOAD_DEFAULT_CONNECTIONS"] = "True"
 
 # Here we setup simpler logger to avoid any code changes in
 # Airflow core code base
diff --git a/tests/test_configuration.py b/tests/test_configuration.py
index 7f1f1d2e30111..f8e64405c7d3b 100644
--- a/tests/test_configuration.py
+++ b/tests/test_configuration.py
@@ -118,6 +118,8 @@ def test_conf_as_dict_source(self):
         cfg_dict = conf.as_dict(display_source=True)
         self.assertEqual(
             cfg_dict['core']['load_examples'][1], 'airflow.cfg')
+        self.assertEqual(
+            cfg_dict['core']['load_default_connections'][1], 'airflow.cfg')
         self.assertEqual(
             cfg_dict['testsection']['testkey'], ('< hidden >', 'env var'))