diff --git a/.travis.yml b/.travis.yml
index ac41ab0e5e3..79ce8cd29ca 100644
--- a/.travis.yml
+++ b/.travis.yml
@@ -339,7 +339,7 @@ matrix:
     language: r
     cache: packages
     latex: false
-    dist: trusty
+    dist: xenial
     env:
     - ARROW_TRAVIS_PARQUET=1
     - ARROW_TRAVIS_USE_SYSTEM=1
@@ -354,6 +354,9 @@ matrix:
           sudo apt-get update -qq
         fi
     - $TRAVIS_BUILD_DIR/ci/travis_install_clang_tools.sh
+    # On Xenial, installing clang-7 leads these to get removed,
+    # but that breaks R, so let's reinstall them.
+    - sudo apt-get install gfortran gfortran-5 libblas-dev libgfortran-5-dev libgfortran3 liblapack-dev liblapack3
     - $TRAVIS_BUILD_DIR/ci/travis_install_linux.sh
     - $TRAVIS_BUILD_DIR/ci/travis_before_script_cpp.sh --only-library
     - export LD_LIBRARY_PATH=$LD_LIBRARY_PATH:$TRAVIS_BUILD_DIR/cpp-install/lib