The government is urging New Zealanders in the Middle East to register on SafeTravel in preparation for evacuation.

Defence Minister Judith Collins told Midday Report, two NZDF planes would be leaving New Zealand in the coming days.

"We're not saying exactly where they're going to be, for obvious security reasons, but we will be saying to people, if you want to leave, we'll get you out of the region into a safer region.... but we won't be bringing back the thousands of New Zealanders who we know are in the region all the way back to New Zealand.

"We'll get you to a place where you can be safe and you can get commercial flights."

Collins said they would not fly into Iran because they would not be putting the Defence Force at risk unnecessarily.

"The best thing for people to do is to register with Safe Travel and then that way (MFAT) knows where people are in numbers so they can work with Defence as to getting those planes into the places where they can."

She confirmed the planes would have "defensive capabilities" but were not fighter planes.

She said there were always risks, like risks of missiles, but the Hercules crews were well trained.

"But understand that this is not a peaceful environment, as we all know, and our Defence staff and consular staff from Ministry of Foreign Affairs are putting themselves actually at risk to be able to help New Zealanders."

Foreign Minister Winston Peters says New Zealanders in the Middle East should continue to shelter in place, or take safe and practical opportunities to leave.

He says it's unclear when and how any civilian evacuation operation might be possible, but wants to be ready if and when conditions on the ground make them possible.

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Peters says when conditions allow, NZDF planes will help New Zealanders get to locations where they can get on commercial flights home. He says they will not be long flights.

The minister says at the speed at which potentially thousands of people need to be moved, it's better they are taken to a safer place as fast as possible.

Collins says exactly where the consular response team and two NZDF C-130J aircraft will be deployed is still to be decided.

There are 3000 New Zealanders registered with MFAT as living in the Middle East.

Emirates flight to Auckland going ahead

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade says an Emirates airline flight from Dubai to Auckland is scheduled to go ahead today.

The government is seeking urgent updates from airlines to confirm the resumption of flights from the United Arab Emirates and Qatar to New Zealand.

More than 20,000 flights globally have been cancelled because of conflict in the Middle East.

MFAT advises passengers booked on the Emirates flight to contact the airline or their travel agent.

Foreign Minister Winston Peters Photo: RNZ/Calvin Samuel

It is offering to help travellers who are having problems with travel documents.

Meanwhile, aviation commentator and chief executive of Auckland's Ardmore Flying School Irene King told Morning Report, it was likely there would be disruptions to flights to Europe, Africa and the Middle East for some time.

"Dubai is such a massive global hub... it's not going to be easy because you're going to have so much disruption."

King said there would now be quite a lot of nervousness about flying over the Middle East which could mean a higher demand for Europe flights which went past Singapore or Hong Kong.

She said those flights were likely to be pretty full.

"It's going to be challenging to get into Europe for quite a period of time.

"I think we'll start to see other carriers [from Asia] potentially putting more volume down into Australasia because they will be acutely aware of people wanting to travel to Europe and not over the Middle East."

King said it was likely there would be a lot more screening going on at airports in the Middle East.