<rant>As a former Hong Konger who loves the people and place, the current situation breaks my heart. Part of what is unspoken is how over the past two decades the economic growth in Hong Kong has been anemic compared to nearby cities like Shenzhen and Guangzhou; the SCMP reports that in 2018 Shenzhen grew to be a larger GDP equivalent than the HK SAR.

While the loss of political autonomy (kinda), freedom of religion and free speech is painful---the folks living in HK also saw their cousins in Guangdong province create tremendous wealth. One thing to remember: there was nothing stopping the British from giving HK residents a true democracy before 1997, and there is nothing stopping them from giving "right of abode" to HK residents with British Overseas Passports. While it is easy to portray the PRC as villains in this story, there are far more elements to consider if we're honest. </rant>

Given the economic changes, I'm still surprised Delta left HK but totally realize that it might well have been a good business decision. They don't partner with a local carrier for connecting passengers, the growth outlook is not particular sanguine and local people on either end of their most logical SEA-HKG flight have good reason to prefer CX and its partner AS.