diff --git a/.gitlab-ci.yml b/.gitlab-ci.yml
index fa58a4dd319468269130b5199cedc9e744227542..307cd89ac13d1157556cba4d5109a46a12837d86 100644
--- a/.gitlab-ci.yml
+++ b/.gitlab-ci.yml
@@ -112,7 +112,7 @@ build_base_image:
     - *update_ansible_repo
     - *get_ansible_files
     - export REPO_HEAD=$(git rev-parse --short HEAD)
-    - export PKR_VAR_flavor="m1.medium-ruffner"
+    - export PKR_VAR_flavor="${BASE_BUILD_FLAVOR:-m1.medium-ruffner}"
     - export PKR_VAR_build_instance_name="base-${REPO_HEAD}"
     - export PKR_VAR_image_date_suffix=false
     - |
@@ -142,7 +142,7 @@ build_compute_image:
     - *get_ansible_files
     - export PKR_VAR_source_image=${BUILT_BASE_IMAGE_ID}
     - export REPO_HEAD=$(git rev-parse --short HEAD)
-    - export PKR_VAR_flavor="m1.medium-ruffner"
+    - export PKR_VAR_flavor="${COMPUTE_BUILD_FLAVOR:-m1.medium-ruffner}"
     - export PKR_VAR_build_instance_name="compute-${REPO_HEAD}"
     - export PKR_VAR_image_date_suffix=false
     - |
@@ -169,7 +169,7 @@ build_gpu_image:
     - export GPU_PLACEHOLDER_IMAGE="CentOS-7-x86_64-GenericCloud-2009"
     - export PKR_VAR_source_image=${BUILT_BASE_IMAGE_ID}
     - export REPO_HEAD=$(git rev-parse --short HEAD)
-    - export PKR_VAR_flavor="gpu1.medium"
+    - export PKR_VAR_flavor="${GPU_BUILD_FLAVOR:-gpu1.medium}"
     - export PKR_VAR_build_instance_name="gpu-${REPO_HEAD}"
     - export PKR_VAR_image_date_suffix=false
     - |
@@ -210,6 +210,7 @@ build_ood_image:
     - 'sed -i -E "s/(user_register_app_key: ).*/\1\"${SELF_REG_APP_KEY}\"/" CRI_XCBC/group_vars/knightly'
     - 'sed -i -E "s/(celery_user_password: ).*/\1\"${CELERY_PASSWD}\"/" CRI_XCBC/group_vars/knightly'
     - 'sed -i -E "s|(ssh_pub_key: ).*|\1\"{{ lookup(''file'', ''${SSH_PUB_KEY}'') }}\"|" CRI_XCBC/group_vars/knightly'
+    - export PKR_VAR_flavor="${OOD_BUILD_FLAVOR:-m1.medium-ruffner}"
     - packer init openstack-ood
     - packer validate openstack-ood
     - |