It can. Common ownership and control by the same parent can make two operating companies affiliates for this purpose, but the relationship has to be proved from share registers and agreements rather than asserted from a shared brand or management.
Affiliate is a defined term, not a description of closeness
Businesses that operate as one group often describe themselves that way, and the classification does not run on self-description. The definitions turn on ownership and control: a parent owns and controls a subsidiary; affiliates are entities owned and controlled by the same parent or by the same group of individuals in substantially the same proportions. Proving it means producing the share registers or membership schedules of every entity in the chain, along with the agreements that created them.
Family and closely held groups often discover at this point that shares were authorized but never issued, or that a transfer was agreed and never recorded. Correcting the record takes weeks and sometimes needs corporate counsel, which is why this work belongs at the start of a transfer project rather than in the fortnight before a filing.