KEY POINTS:
Attempts to get New Zealanders out of Thailand are being described as chaotic.
The two airports in Bangkok have been closed by anti-Government protesters since Monday last week.
Some 200 New Zealanders are amongst the thousands of tourists stranded by the closures.
Anti-government protesters have allowed 37 empty planes to leave Bangkok's besieged main airport.
A total of 88 aircraft have been stranded at Suvarnabhumi international airport since demonstrators stormed the terminal and forced it to close early last week.
However the People's Alliance for Democracy protest movement is refusing to leave the airport until the government resigns.
Police say they are in talks with the demonstrators but have also issued them with orders to leave under a state of emergency declared at the airports.
Cathay Pacific Manager David Figgins says they have been trying to transport customers to Hong Kong, where they can meet connecting flights.
Special flights are ferrying people out via an old military airport south of the Thai capital.
He says there have been a number of logistical problems, as the airport has very limited facilities, and is not designed for commercial operations.
Melanie Wium says her husband and two sons were caught in transit to South Africa, and are struggling to get out.
Mrs Wium says they queued for five hours yesterday only to get tickets for a flight from one of the closed airports.
They will be back in line today to try to get a seat on one of the special flights leaving from the old military airport south of the capital.
The Government is working with foreign airlines and the Australian government to get New Zealanders, trapped by the anti-government protests that have paralysed Bangkok's two main airports, out of the country.
An official estimate last night of the number of New Zealanders stuck in Bangkok was 195, but Mr Key said that number had grown.
"There are at least 200 that are stranded at Bangkok airport as I understand it and there may well be more," he said on Newstalk ZB.
"As each day goes by more holidays and things come to their end so in theory there is a greater backlog."
Mr Key said officials were working to get New Zealanders out and he would have more details on possible solutions this afternoon.
He said the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade was still warning people to stay away from Thailand as the situation was likely to get worse before it got better.
"There is no real break in the protests that are going on and you never really know where those things are going to end up," Mr Key said on TVNZ's Breakfast programme.
"There are issues there, so unless you really need to go to Thailand I wouldn't go ... Obviously it's a risk we think people shouldn't take."
Foreign Affairs Minister Murray McCully last night told NZPA there was the possibility of using airports beyond the main Suvarnabhumi and Don Muang airports.
New Zealand officials were also discussing alternative options with other airlines.
"The situation is complicated by the fact that not all (the New Zealanders) are headed home. Some are heading the other way, not all are literally trapped there, and some have made arrangements to go elsewhere."
A group of Australians left from U-Tapao, a Vietnam War-era naval airbase 150km east of Bangkok, for home yesterday.
He said that was an option for ticket holders of Thai Airways or its partner airlines.
One of the other options was to catch a flight out of tourist resort Phuket - 900km by road from Bangkok and involving a 14-hour bus trip.
Subject to approval by Thai authorities, Qantas is planning to put on an A330-300 - which can hold close to 300 passengers - from Phuket to Singapore tonight local time.
But it has said Qantas and British Airways ticket holders will get first priority for seats, followed by other Australian nationals.
Mr McCully said chartering an Air New Zealand plane to fly New Zealanders home was the least practical answer.
"Anything involving a carrier that does not habitually fly from the airport they would leave from has complications," he said.
Mr McCully said he believed New Zealanders were not at risk but without intervention it could take weeks to get home.
Thailand's Deputy Prime Minister Olarn Chaipravat has said it could take a month to clear the backlog.
"The levels of frustration are going to rise and we are keen to do everything we can to assist," Mr McCully said.
- NEWSTALK ZB, NZPA
