UK Government Offers £100K for C++ Developer to Maintain Critical Airport Passenger Model

The UK's Department for Transport is seeking a C++ programmer to maintain a critical component of its airport passenger forecasting system, offering up to £100,000 over three years to keep the National Aviation Passenger Allocation Model (NAPAM) operational.

The department has posted a tender seeking a developer to provide technical support for a 10,000-line C++ module that forms part of NAPAM, which forecasts how passengers choose between different departure airports. The model, written in a Microsoft .NET C++ environment with Excel for data input and output, performs iterative calculations to determine airport usage patterns based on factors like passenger origins, transport costs, and airport capacities.

The contract, which runs from April 27, 2026, to April 26, 2029, includes a maximum budget of £100,000 excluding VAT. However, the tender document notes that this budget is "non-committal," meaning the department cannot guarantee the volume of work or total spend. This suggests the successful developer may only need to dedicate a fraction of their time to the project.

NAPAM covers 29 UK airports with international flights plus four overseas hubs popular with British travelers: Amsterdam Schiphol, Dubai, Frankfurt, and Paris Charles de Gaulle. The model uses data from passenger surveys conducted by the Civil Aviation Authority, along with information on where passengers live, road and rail transport times and costs, airport and aircraft capacities, and destinations.

This isn't the first time the government has invested in maintaining the system. In 2020, the Department for Transport spent £96,763 with Jacobs, a Dallas-based consultancy's UK unit, for an update to the model. The system has been in use since at least 2010 and has undergone several revisions, including updates in 2017, 2022, and 2024.

The tender highlights the ongoing need for specialized technical expertise in maintaining government IT systems, even those that might seem outdated to some developers. The C++ codebase, while functional, requires dedicated support to ensure it continues providing accurate passenger allocation forecasts that inform transportation planning and policy decisions.

For developers considering the opportunity, the role would involve working alongside transport modelers, economists, and analysts to develop and maintain the model. The position offers stable government work with a clear scope, though the non-committal nature of the budget suggests it may not provide full-time employment.

The tender closes on April 7, 2026, giving interested developers less than a month to submit their proposals. Given the specialized nature of the work and the relatively modest budget, the department may be targeting independent contractors or small consultancies with specific C++ expertise rather than large software development firms.