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.
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.
Defence Minister Judith 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.
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.
