diff --git a/fs/nilfs2/page.c b/fs/nilfs2/page.c
index 4d2a1ee0eb47..9d2dc6b4348e 100644
--- a/fs/nilfs2/page.c
+++ b/fs/nilfs2/page.c
@@ -495,12 +495,14 @@ unsigned nilfs_page_count_clean_buffers(struct page *page,
 void nilfs_mapping_init(struct address_space *mapping,
 			struct backing_dev_info *bdi)
 {
+	static const struct address_space_operations empty_aops;
+
 	mapping->host = NULL;
 	mapping->flags = 0;
 	mapping_set_gfp_mask(mapping, GFP_NOFS);
 	mapping->assoc_mapping = NULL;
 	mapping->backing_dev_info = bdi;
-	mapping->a_ops = NULL;
+	mapping->a_ops = &empty_aops;
 }
 
 /*