diff --git a/.gitlab-ci.yml b/.gitlab-ci.yml
index 307cd89ac13d1157556cba4d5109a46a12837d86..c75ee596df591b1b47246900523321e0ee843d28 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=$(git rev-parse --short HEAD)
-    - export PKR_VAR_flavor="${BASE_BUILD_FLAVOR:-m1.medium-ruffner}"
+    - export PKR_VAR_flavor="${BASE_BUILD_FLAVOR:-$PKR_VAR_flavor}"
     - 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=$(git rev-parse --short HEAD)
-    - export PKR_VAR_flavor="${COMPUTE_BUILD_FLAVOR:-m1.medium-ruffner}"
+    - export PKR_VAR_flavor="${COMPUTE_BUILD_FLAVOR:-$PKR_VAR_flavor}"
     - export PKR_VAR_build_instance_name="compute-${REPO_HEAD}"
     - export PKR_VAR_image_date_suffix=false
     - |
@@ -210,13 +210,13 @@ build_ood_image:
     - 'sed -i -E "s/(user_register_app_key: ).*/\1\"${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="${OOD_BUILD_FLAVOR:-m1.medium-ruffner}"
+    - export PKR_VAR_flavor="${OOD_BUILD_FLAVOR:-$PKR_VAR_flavor}"
     - packer init openstack-ood
     - packer validate openstack-ood
     - |
       if [ $CI_PIPELINE_SOURCE == 'merge_request_event' ]; then
         export PKR_VAR_image_name="ood-PR-${CI_MERGE_REQUEST_IID}"
-        echo INSTANCE_FLAVOR="m1.medium-ruffner" | tee -a $CI_PROJECT_DIR/image.env
+        echo INSTANCE_FLAVOR="${PKR_VAR_flavor}" | tee -a $CI_PROJECT_DIR/image.env
         echo OOD_INSTANCE_NAME="ood-PR-${CI_MERGE_REQUEST_IID}" | tee -a $CI_PROJECT_DIR/image.env
         export FLOATING_IP=$(openstack floating ip create uab-campus -f value -c floating_ip_address)
         echo FLOATING_IP=$FLOATING_IP | tee -a $CI_PROJECT_DIR/image.env