diff --git a/qa/qa/resource/runner_base.rb b/qa/qa/resource/runner_base.rb
index 399d1153dc2126fc55a7b34a42c672ff062c0273..22c966143c5b6eac564572dca442f8a067d3cedb 100644
--- a/qa/qa/resource/runner_base.rb
+++ b/qa/qa/resource/runner_base.rb
@@ -35,9 +35,10 @@ def initialize
         @config = nil
         @run_untagged = nil
         @name = "qa-runner-#{SecureRandom.hex(4)}"
-        @image = 'registry.gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab-runner:alpine-v15.8.3'
+        @image = "#{Runtime::Env.runner_image_registry}/gitlab-org/gitlab-runner:alpine-v15.8.3"
         @executor = :shell
-        @executor_image = 'registry.gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab-build-images:gitlab-qa-alpine-ruby-2.7'
+        @executor_image = "#{Runtime::Env.runner_image_registry}
+                          /gitlab-org/gitlab-build-images:gitlab-qa-alpine-ruby-2.7"
       end
 
       # Initially we only support fabricate via API
diff --git a/qa/qa/runtime/env.rb b/qa/qa/runtime/env.rb
index 3153c644b883cd91ded7f5099eee7a6142e60a84..6be76de7e4bec9a51abeef8b0cbc8159e2dfc03a 100644
--- a/qa/qa/runtime/env.rb
+++ b/qa/qa/runtime/env.rb
@@ -479,6 +479,11 @@ def skip_smoke_reliable?
         enabled?(ENV['QA_SKIP_SMOKE_RELIABLE'], default: false)
       end
 
+      # The QA_RUNNER_IMAGE_REGISTRY defines where we can find docker images required for runner tests
+      def runner_image_registry
+        ENV['QA_RUNNER_IMAGE_REGISTRY'] || 'registry.gitlab.com'
+      end
+
       # ENV variables for authenticating against a private container registry
       # These need to be set if using the
       # Service::DockerRun::Mixins::ThirdPartyDocker module
diff --git a/qa/qa/service/docker_run/gitlab_runner.rb b/qa/qa/service/docker_run/gitlab_runner.rb
index a8fcf8f933275909a6f7239c418d7277723b9b3a..c5ced4c0d119f5fbb03c8dee29b0f9c9c874f693 100644
--- a/qa/qa/service/docker_run/gitlab_runner.rb
+++ b/qa/qa/service/docker_run/gitlab_runner.rb
@@ -16,12 +16,12 @@ class GitlabRunner < Base
         MSG
 
         def initialize(name)
-          @image = 'gitlab/gitlab-runner:alpine-v15.8.3'
+          @image = "#{Runtime::Env.runner_image_registry}/gitlab-org/gitlab-runner:alpine-v15.8.3"
           @name = name || "qa-runner-#{SecureRandom.hex(4)}"
           @run_untagged = true
           @executor = :shell
-          @executor_image = 'registry.gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab-build-images:gitlab-qa-alpine-ruby-2.7'
-
+          @executor_image = "#{Runtime::Env.runner_image_registry}/" \
+                            "gitlab-org/gitlab-build-images:gitlab-qa-alpine-ruby-2.7"
           super()
         end
 
@@ -39,6 +39,7 @@ def register!
           raise("Missing runner token value!") unless token
 
           cmd = <<~CMD.tr("\n", ' ')
+            docker container rm -f #{@name} &&
             docker run -d --rm --network #{runner_network} --name #{@name}
             #{'-v /var/run/docker.sock:/var/run/docker.sock' if @executor == :docker}
             --privileged
@@ -48,9 +49,6 @@ def register!
           shell(cmd, mask_secrets: [@token])
 
           wait_until_running_and_configured
-
-          # Prove airgappedness
-          shell("docker exec #{@name} sh -c '#{prove_airgap}'") if runner_network == 'airgapped'
         end
 
         def tags=(tags)
@@ -101,17 +99,6 @@ def register_command
           CMD
         end
 
-        # Ping Cloudflare DNS, should fail
-        # Ping Registry, should fail to resolve
-        def prove_airgap
-          gitlab_ip = Resolv.getaddress 'registry.gitlab.com'
-          <<~CMD
-            echo "Checking airgapped connectivity..."
-            nc -zv -w 10 #{gitlab_ip} 80 && (echo "Airgapped network faulty. Connectivity netcat check failed." && exit 1) || (echo "Connectivity netcat check passed." && exit 0)
-            wget --retry-connrefused --waitretry=1 --read-timeout=15 --timeout=10 -t 2 http://registry.gitlab.com > /dev/null 2>&1 && (echo "Airgapped network faulty. Connectivity wget check failed." && exit 1) || (echo "Airgapped network confirmed. Connectivity wget check passed." && exit 0)
-          CMD
-        end
-
         def add_gitlab_tls_cert
           gitlab_tls_certificate = Tempfile.new('gitlab-cert')
           gitlab_tls_certificate.write(Runtime::Env.gitlab_tls_certificate)
diff --git a/qa/qa/specs/features/browser_ui/6_release/deploy_key/clone_using_deploy_key_spec.rb b/qa/qa/specs/features/browser_ui/6_release/deploy_key/clone_using_deploy_key_spec.rb
index 0f6bee951a727eabe54ad509a8a1448c996d3876..a435edcca771e16a1325913d5dc0aa45e63c2552 100644
--- a/qa/qa/specs/features/browser_ui/6_release/deploy_key/clone_using_deploy_key_spec.rb
+++ b/qa/qa/specs/features/browser_ui/6_release/deploy_key/clone_using_deploy_key_spec.rb
@@ -19,7 +19,7 @@ module QA
           resource.project = project
           resource.name = runner_name
           resource.tags = [runner_name]
-          resource.image = 'gitlab/gitlab-runner:alpine-v15.8.3'
+          resource.image = "#{Runtime::Env.runner_image_registry}/gitlab-org/gitlab-runner:alpine-v15.8.3"
         end
       end