The Atlanta City Council on Monday unanimously approved a $1.2 billion construction budget for a new international terminal at Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport, despite objections by Delta Air Lines, the airport's largest customer, over a huge reserve fund.

Delta, which supports the new terminal, has argued the $168 million contingency fund for the project is $110 million more than the figure it agreed to and could lead to wasteful spending.

Airline officials, however, remained quiet before Monday's 12-0 vote. Delta voiced its opposition last week before the Transportation Committee, the oversight group for the city-run airport.

Cyriel Kronenburg of the International Air Transport Association told the council Monday that it's unrealistic to think the money in the reserve fund will not be spent during the nearly four-year construction phase.

"If you give your kid a $20 allowance and ask him to come back at the end of the week with $15, there's no way it's going to happen," said Kronenburg, whose association of international carriers counts Delta among its members.

Hartsfield-Jackson General Manager Ben DeCosta said the council's action will permit the airport to stay on schedule with the Maynard Holbrook Jackson Jr. International Terminal, scheduled to open in November 2011.

"This train is moving and we want to keep it moving," DeCosta said after the vote. The terminal could eventually cost $1.6 billion when all of the infrastructure and other costs are tallied. Delta and the other airlines at Hartsfield-Jackson will share a portion of the project's cost. The airlines wanted a smaller reserve fund to ensure the project stays on the lower end of the budget.

In a partial nod to those concerns, the council amended its original proposal to require that DeCosta brief the airlines and city officials four times a year about how money from the contingency fund is being spent.

DeCosta, who applauded loudly when the council announced its vote, said he has no problem with the added layer of oversight.

"I'm happy to do it," he said. "We're transparent and accountable."

The new terminal, with soaring glass walls and a view of the Atlanta skyline, will have its own entrance off Interstate 75, its own parking garage and gates for 12 wide-bodies jets. Those gates will complement 28 gates at the current international terminal on Concourse E, giving the airport the ability to park 40 international flights at one time.

Delta, which accounts for more than 70 percent of the airport's business, has pushed to make lucrative international flights a bigger portion of its business and has been a major supporter of a new terminal.