IMPERIAL, Pa. — US Airways is closing its 600-employee flight operations center at Pittsburgh International Airport over the next 18 months.

The airline announced the move Friday.

The airline is merging with American Airlines in a $17.8 billion deal approved in December, but US Airways and American continue to operate separately until the Federal Aviation Administration grants the new entity — American Airlines Group — a unified operating certificate.

The move to close the flight operations center comes as the merged airline plans to move the jobs to the American Airlines Integrated Operations Control Center in Dallas Fort-Worth. That’s where American is headquartered and the combined airline will be based.

American says most of the dispatchers and other employees will be given the chance to transfer, though an unspecified number are expected to be cut through voluntary attrition.