Love is in the air for Kiwi Emirates Boeing 777 pilots

Kiwi Emirates pilots Nick Haynes and Hilary Thwaites married in December. Photo / Sophie Isabella.

Hilary Thwaites and Nick Haynes have better work stories than many newlyweds.

The New Zealand couple married late last year and are both first officers flying Boeing 777s for the world's biggest international airline, Emirates.

''It's fair to say we fly almost everywhere. We both like to explore the network, so hardly ever fly to the same place twice,'' they said.

They've been with the airline for 18 months and on the flight deck — separately — to various cities through Europe, Africa, Asia, Australia, the Middle East and the United States.

The couple met seven years ago when they were flying six-seat single engine aircraft out of Darwin to the Outback.

''We met the old fashioned way, downtown at a local bar through a good friend.''

Hilary Thwaites and Nick Haynes both work as first officers for Emirates Airline and were married in December 2017. Photo / Sophie Isabella

The relationship grew and this led Nick, from Auckland, to propose on the summit of Mt Taranaki, near Hilary's family dairy farm in Oeo.

He got down on bended knee in the snow and popped the question.

Emirates pilots typically work about 85 hours a month but with so much flying in different directions around the world, how does the job suit a married couple?

''So far, so good. We've managed to align all our annual leave which makes it easy for us to head off travelling every few months. Regularly in the rosters we request five-day blocks of days off together,'' they said.

Hilary, 32 and Nick, nearly 30, say that during the shorter breaks they've explored countries in the surrounding region.

''Occasionally we get longer trips away for work which means a week or so apart, but we both quite like this, we get a chance to miss each other and get really excited to see each other again.''

Hilary Thwaites and Nick Haynes both work as first officers for Emirates. Photo / Supplied

Entry level first officers are paid around $17,000 a month, including a housing allowance and also qualify for an important perk, a trip home from their base in Dubai.

''We've been home to New Zealand once in December, which is when we got married. Emirates provide us with a ticket annually as part of the contract. We could visit more often, but prefer to make the most of our time based here seeing the world.''