diff --git a/airflow/providers/cncf/kubernetes/operators/kubernetes_pod.py b/airflow/providers/cncf/kubernetes/operators/kubernetes_pod.py
index 213614c80c82e1..bf0cf81c0ceb5f 100644
--- a/airflow/providers/cncf/kubernetes/operators/kubernetes_pod.py
+++ b/airflow/providers/cncf/kubernetes/operators/kubernetes_pod.py
@@ -257,7 +257,7 @@ def __init__(  # pylint: disable=too-many-arguments,too-many-locals
         else:
             self.node_selector = {}
         self.annotations = annotations or {}
-        self.affinity = convert_affinity(affinity) if affinity else k8s.V1Affinity()
+        self.affinity = convert_affinity(affinity) if affinity else {}
         self.k8s_resources = convert_resources(resources) if resources else {}
         self.config_file = config_file
         self.image_pull_secrets = convert_image_pull_secrets(image_pull_secrets) if image_pull_secrets else []
diff --git a/tests/providers/cncf/kubernetes/operators/test_kubernetes_pod.py b/tests/providers/cncf/kubernetes/operators/test_kubernetes_pod.py
index a087fc9b0edf31..2da7e8b9dbb8f9 100644
--- a/tests/providers/cncf/kubernetes/operators/test_kubernetes_pod.py
+++ b/tests/providers/cncf/kubernetes/operators/test_kubernetes_pod.py
@@ -334,6 +334,25 @@ def test_pod_template_file(self):
               labels:
                 foo: bar
             spec:
+              affinity:
+                nodeAffinity:
+                  requiredDuringSchedulingIgnoredDuringExecution:
+                    nodeSelectorTerms:
+                    - matchExpressions:
+                      - key: kubernetes.io/role
+                        operator: In
+                        values:
+                        - foo
+                        - bar
+                  preferredDuringSchedulingIgnoredDuringExecution:
+                  - weight: 1
+                    preference:
+                      matchExpressions:
+                      - key: kubernetes.io/role
+                        operator: In
+                        values:
+                        - foo
+                        - bar
               containers:
                 - name: base
                   image: ubuntu:16.04
@@ -366,6 +385,35 @@ def test_pod_template_file(self):
             assert pod.metadata.namespace == "mynamespace"
             assert pod.spec.containers[0].image == "ubuntu:16.04"
             assert pod.spec.containers[0].command == ["something"]
+            affinity = {
+                'node_affinity': {
+                    'preferred_during_scheduling_ignored_during_execution': [
+                        {
+                            'preference': {
+                                'match_expressions': [
+                                    {'key': 'kubernetes.io/role', 'operator': 'In', 'values': ['foo', 'bar']}
+                                ],
+                                'match_fields': None,
+                            },
+                            'weight': 1,
+                        }
+                    ],
+                    'required_during_scheduling_ignored_during_execution': {
+                        'node_selector_terms': [
+                            {
+                                'match_expressions': [
+                                    {'key': 'kubernetes.io/role', 'operator': 'In', 'values': ['foo', 'bar']}
+                                ],
+                                'match_fields': None,
+                            }
+                        ]
+                    },
+                },
+                'pod_affinity': None,
+                'pod_anti_affinity': None,
+            }
+
+            assert pod.spec.affinity.to_dict() == affinity
 
             # kwargs take precedence, however
             image = "some.custom.image:andtag"