diff --git a/.gitlab-ci.yml b/.gitlab-ci.yml
index 3428c7a9fddf8c3f398b51f9344895706bf2a88f..db544ce6283844bfeda75d2da5150af33fa3e613 100644
--- a/.gitlab-ci.yml
+++ b/.gitlab-ci.yml
@@ -85,7 +85,7 @@ workflow:
       if [ $CI_PIPELINE_SOURCE == 'merge_request_event' ]; then
         export PKR_VAR_image_name="${BUILD_TARGET}-PR-${CI_MERGE_REQUEST_IID}"
       elif [ $CI_PIPELINE_SOURCE == 'schedule' ]; then
-        export PKR_VAR_image_name="${BUILD_TARGET}-${BUILD_DATE}"
+        export PKR_VAR_image_name="${BUILD_TARGET}-${BUILD_TAG:-${BUILD_DATE}}"
       fi
     # Ansible var overrides
     - |
@@ -148,7 +148,7 @@ build_ssh_proxy_image:
       if [ $CI_PIPELINE_SOURCE == 'merge_request_event' ]; then
         export PKR_VAR_image_name="${BUILD_TARGET}-PR-${CI_MERGE_REQUEST_IID}"
       elif [ $CI_PIPELINE_SOURCE == 'schedule' ]; then
-        export PKR_VAR_image_name="${BUILD_TARGET}-${BUILD_DATE}"
+        export PKR_VAR_image_name="${BUILD_TARGET}-${BUILD_TAG:-${BUILD_DATE}}"
       fi
     # packer commands
     - packer init openstack-login
@@ -186,7 +186,7 @@ build_ood_image:
     - export PKR_VAR_flavor="${OOD_BUILD_FLAVOR:-$PKR_VAR_flavor}"
     - export PKR_VAR_build_instance_name="${BUILD_TARGET}-${EXT_REPO_HEAD}"
     - export PKR_VAR_image_date_suffix=false
-    - export PKR_VAR_image_name="${BUILD_TARGET}-${BUILD_DATE}"
+    - export PKR_VAR_image_name="${BUILD_TARGET}-${BUILD_TAG:-${BUILD_DATE}}"
     - |
       if [ $ENV = 'knightly' ] || [ $ENV = 'prod' ]; then
         curl --header "PRIVATE-TOKEN: ${ANSIBLE_VAR_TOKEN}" \