diff --git a/pyiceberg/io/pyarrow.py b/pyiceberg/io/pyarrow.py
index 0bb1e92c07..efeaa4a2c2 100644
--- a/pyiceberg/io/pyarrow.py
+++ b/pyiceberg/io/pyarrow.py
@@ -392,11 +392,17 @@ def __init__(self, properties: Properties = EMPTY_DICT):
         super().__init__(properties=properties)
 
     @staticmethod
-    def parse_location(location: str) -> Tuple[str, str, str]:
-        """Return the path without the scheme."""
+    def parse_location(location: str, properties: Properties = EMPTY_DICT) -> Tuple[str, str, str]:
+        """Return (scheme, netloc, path) for the given location.
+
+        Uses DEFAULT_SCHEME and DEFAULT_NETLOC if scheme/netloc are missing.
+        """
         uri = urlparse(location)
+
         if not uri.scheme:
-            return "file", uri.netloc, os.path.abspath(location)
+            default_scheme = properties.get("DEFAULT_SCHEME", "file")
+            default_netloc = properties.get("DEFAULT_NETLOC", "")
+            return default_scheme, default_netloc, os.path.abspath(location)
         elif uri.scheme in ("hdfs", "viewfs"):
             return uri.scheme, uri.netloc, uri.path
         else:
@@ -614,7 +620,7 @@ def new_input(self, location: str) -> PyArrowFile:
         Returns:
             PyArrowFile: A PyArrowFile instance for the given location.
         """
-        scheme, netloc, path = self.parse_location(location)
+        scheme, netloc, path = self.parse_location(location, self.properties)
         return PyArrowFile(
             fs=self.fs_by_scheme(scheme, netloc),
             location=location,
@@ -631,7 +637,7 @@ def new_output(self, location: str) -> PyArrowFile:
         Returns:
             PyArrowFile: A PyArrowFile instance for the given location.
         """
-        scheme, netloc, path = self.parse_location(location)
+        scheme, netloc, path = self.parse_location(location, self.properties)
         return PyArrowFile(
             fs=self.fs_by_scheme(scheme, netloc),
             location=location,
@@ -652,7 +658,7 @@ def delete(self, location: Union[str, InputFile, OutputFile]) -> None:
                 an AWS error code 15.
         """
         str_location = location.location if isinstance(location, (InputFile, OutputFile)) else location
-        scheme, netloc, path = self.parse_location(str_location)
+        scheme, netloc, path = self.parse_location(str_location, self.properties)
         fs = self.fs_by_scheme(scheme, netloc)
 
         try:
diff --git a/tests/io/test_pyarrow.py b/tests/io/test_pyarrow.py
index d01123dfd9..6efaf60cb9 100644
--- a/tests/io/test_pyarrow.py
+++ b/tests/io/test_pyarrow.py
@@ -2785,3 +2785,29 @@ def _expected_batch(unit: str) -> pa.RecordBatch:
         )
 
     assert _expected_batch("ns" if format_version > 2 else "us").equals(actual_result)
+
+
+def test_parse_location_defaults() -> None:
+    """Test that parse_location uses defaults."""
+
+    from pyiceberg.io.pyarrow import PyArrowFileIO
+
+    # if no default scheme or netloc is provided, use file scheme and empty netloc
+    scheme, netloc, path = PyArrowFileIO.parse_location("/foo/bar")
+    assert scheme == "file"
+    assert netloc == ""
+    assert path == "/foo/bar"
+
+    scheme, netloc, path = PyArrowFileIO.parse_location(
+        "/foo/bar", properties={"DEFAULT_SCHEME": "scheme", "DEFAULT_NETLOC": "netloc:8000"}
+    )
+    assert scheme == "scheme"
+    assert netloc == "netloc:8000"
+    assert path == "/foo/bar"
+
+    scheme, netloc, path = PyArrowFileIO.parse_location(
+        "/foo/bar", properties={"DEFAULT_SCHEME": "hdfs", "DEFAULT_NETLOC": "netloc:8000"}
+    )
+    assert scheme == "hdfs"
+    assert netloc == "netloc:8000"
+    assert path == "/foo/bar"