diff --git a/playbooks/airship-treasuremap-build-gate.yaml b/playbooks/airship-treasuremap-build-gate.yaml
index 216bfc7b1..b9ce249f1 100644
--- a/playbooks/airship-treasuremap-build-gate.yaml
+++ b/playbooks/airship-treasuremap-build-gate.yaml
@@ -36,7 +36,6 @@
       include_role:
         name: install-kustomize
 
-    # Installs kustomize plugin functionality needed for rendering below
     - name: install airshipctl
       shell: |
         cd {{ local_src_dir | default(zuul.project.src_dir) }}
diff --git a/tools/deployment/01_install_essentials.sh b/tools/deployment/01_install_essentials.sh
index d0fe82698..a366892af 100755
--- a/tools/deployment/01_install_essentials.sh
+++ b/tools/deployment/01_install_essentials.sh
@@ -29,4 +29,7 @@ cd ${AIRSHIPCTL_PROJECT}
 ./tools/deployment/provider_common/03_install_pip.sh
 ./tools/deployment/provider_common/04_install_yq.sh
 ./tools/deployment/01_install_kubectl.sh
-./tools/install_kustomize.sh
+if ! $(which kustomize > /dev/null); then
+  ./tools/install_kustomize.sh
+fi
+
diff --git a/zuul.d/projects.yaml b/zuul.d/projects.yaml
index 04e43b3f5..c6afe3c3e 100644
--- a/zuul.d/projects.yaml
+++ b/zuul.d/projects.yaml
@@ -14,7 +14,7 @@
     vars:
       # NOTE(drewwalters96): Set AIRSHIPCTL_REF to a commit SHA in order to pin
       # the cloned version of airshipctl to a known/compatible reference.
-      AIRSHIPCTL_REF: "030bb123d8fedd39125dd6eae92f48e0d32a7469"
+      AIRSHIPCTL_REF: "892bb6a16d53a0f43571284db83901bef53ed440"
       sphinx_build_dir: docs/build
     check:
       jobs: