diff --git a/apollo-router/src/configuration/snapshots/apollo_router__configuration__tests__schema_generation.snap b/apollo-router/src/configuration/snapshots/apollo_router__configuration__tests__schema_generation.snap
index e615c2b834..37a2a352b9 100644
--- a/apollo-router/src/configuration/snapshots/apollo_router__configuration__tests__schema_generation.snap
+++ b/apollo-router/src/configuration/snapshots/apollo_router__configuration__tests__schema_generation.snap
@@ -4635,7 +4635,6 @@ expression: "&schema"
         }
       },
       "required": [
-        "format",
         "header_name"
       ],
       "type": "object"
diff --git a/apollo-router/src/plugins/telemetry/config.rs b/apollo-router/src/plugins/telemetry/config.rs
index 5a506401a8..797c838ed0 100644
--- a/apollo-router/src/plugins/telemetry/config.rs
+++ b/apollo-router/src/plugins/telemetry/config.rs
@@ -324,6 +324,7 @@ pub(crate) struct RequestPropagation {
     pub(crate) header_name: Option<HeaderName>,
 
     /// The trace ID format that will be used when propagating to subgraph services.
+    #[serde(default)]
     pub(crate) format: TraceIdFormat,
 }