diff --git a/autoload/airline.vim b/autoload/airline.vim
index b212406..792a971 100644
--- a/autoload/airline.vim
+++ b/autoload/airline.vim
@@ -83,10 +83,9 @@ function! s:get_statusline(winnr, active)
     let sl.=l:info_sep_color
     let sl.=g:airline_left_sep
     let sl.=l:status_color.s:get_section(a:winnr, 'c', ' %<')
-    let gutter = s:getwinvar(a:winnr, 'airline_section_gutter', get(g:, 'airline_section_gutter', ''))
-    let sl.=gutter != ''
-          \ ? gutter
-          \ : g:airline_externals_syntastic.l:file_flag_color."%{&ro ? g:airline_readonly_symbol : ''}".l:status_color
+    let sl.=l:file_flag_color." %{&ro ? g:airline_readonly_symbol : ''}".l:status_color
+    let sl.=s:get_section(a:winnr, 'gutter', '', '')
+    let sl.=l:status_color
   else
     let sl.=l:status_color.' %f%m'
   endif
diff --git a/plugin/airline.vim b/plugin/airline.vim
index 578d002..2f2a905 100644
--- a/plugin/airline.vim
+++ b/plugin/airline.vim
@@ -58,7 +58,7 @@ function! s:on_window_changed()
     call s:check_defined('g:airline_section_a', '%{g:airline_current_mode_text}')
     call s:check_defined('g:airline_section_b', '%{g:airline_externals_branch}')
     call s:check_defined('g:airline_section_c', g:airline_externals_bufferline)
-    call s:check_defined('g:airline_section_gutter', '')
+    call s:check_defined('g:airline_section_gutter', g:airline_externals_syntastic)
     call s:check_defined('g:airline_section_x', g:airline_externals_tagbar."%{strlen(&filetype)>0?&filetype:''}")
     call s:check_defined('g:airline_section_y', "%{strlen(&fenc)>0?&fenc:''}%{strlen(&ff)>0?'['.&ff.']':''}")
     call s:check_defined('g:airline_section_z', '%3p%% '.g:airline_linecolumn_prefix.'%3l:%3c')