Whitehall seeks lone C++ coder to keep airport passenger model flying

Government offers £100K to support software forecasting how travelers choose departure hubs

The UK's Department for Transport is offering up to £100,000 over three years for access to a C++ programmer who can keep a module of its airport usage model up in the air.

The module is part of the National Aviation Passenger Allocation Model, or NAPAM [PDF], which forecasts passenger airport choices.

It consists of about 10,000 lines of code written in a Microsoft .NET C++ environment with Excel used for data input and output. It carries out iterative calculations until these hit a set value such as an airport's maximum number of passengers.

The department has set a maximum budget of £100,000, excluding VAT over three years, starting from April 27, 2026.

The job also states: "This budget is non-committal – therefore the Authority cannot guarantee volume and spend."

The supplier will provide ...