So when is the exorbitant Qantas fuel levy going to be dropped?

So when is the exorbitant Qantas fuel levy going to be dropped? It is now way out of sync with the oil price given for adding it in the first place and wheeled out every year as part of the excuse for Qantas' bad financial performance. What could possibly be holding them back from putting their customers first this time?.

QF, along with every other airline around world except AA, are still paying for fuel at higher prices than that of the benchmarks in the US & Singapore, the contracts have to be completed at their respective set prices and then they can either hedge at lower prices or buy at market. 

Its not as simple as you describe. Check out Ben Sandilands article at his Plane Talking blog for more details.

About the same time that they implement an air traffic control surcharge to deal with the congestion caused by millions of barnyard animals of the porcine variety simultaneously taking flight.

Oh dear, they may just follow your suggestion. It is after all a 'fairer' system.

And while the fuel price has been falling, so has the Australian dollar,

so in A$ the price is much more consistent

The price of oil has been falling much more spectacularly than the $A. It has dropped to 40% of the heights it reached not that long ago. Qantas has been caught with its pants down if it locked into high preces for an extended term; these days things move too unpredictably too quickly to do that.

Isn't it a bit naive to think the fuel levy is just a surcharge that will disappear when the price of fuel drops?

Unless specific sunset clauses are spelt out from the very beginning I believe we can safely assume this source of revenue is on-going no matter what the current conditions are.

Same goes for government and taxes. Look out for sunset provisions and/or ring-fence provisions. No one is going to like having to do without what they've been getting.

Taxation was originally invented by the Federal gov to fund the Anzac effort in WW1, afterwhich, the government simply chose to keep it.

Great source of ongoing funds.......

As with the government of Pitt the Younger during the French Revolutionary War.

It's  interesting what governments can do during periods of conflict to strip away the liberty of its people, taxes being the original cause célèbre.

I think it will be dropped when democracy comes to Cuba.

Of if not Cuba, North Korea.

The Qantas fuel surcharge et al is designed to keep profits healthy from the sale of Classic Award and Any Seat awards, as well as the miles-based awards for the handful of premium class seats Qantas leaks to its OW partners. That huge fee in addition to miles/points requires can be a deal breaker, even if you can find a F or J availability.