diff --git a/airflow-core/src/airflow/api_fastapi/core_api/datamodels/plugins.py b/airflow-core/src/airflow/api_fastapi/core_api/datamodels/plugins.py
index 61d4ec8a0842b..92ad988b087fe 100644
--- a/airflow-core/src/airflow/api_fastapi/core_api/datamodels/plugins.py
+++ b/airflow-core/src/airflow/api_fastapi/core_api/datamodels/plugins.py
@@ -130,7 +130,7 @@ def convert_source(cls, data: Any) -> Any:
     @model_validator(mode="before")
     @classmethod
     def convert_external_views(cls, data: Any) -> Any:
-        data["external_views"] = [*data["external_views"], *data.get("appbuilder_menu_items", [])]
+        data["external_views"] = [*data["external_views"], *data["appbuilder_menu_items"]]
         return data