Hawaiian Airlines marked the opening Monday of an information technology center in Tempe, Ariz., that represents the carrier’s largest office outside its Honolulu headquarters.

The airline, which has offered daily nonstop flights between Honolulu and Phoenix since 2002, held a Hawaiian blessing to welcome 60 employees to its 15,000-square-foot center. The new space complements Hawaiian’s technical capabilities in Honolulu and enhances the company’s ability to hire IT professionals from across the mainland.

“We appreciate the warm welcome we have received throughout Arizona in support of our IT center, and we are delighted to grow our business in a state we have enjoyed serving with nonstop flights to Hawai‘i for nearly two decades,” Hawaiian President and CEO Peter Ingram said in a statement. “Our Tempe office will augment the core work of our Honolulu team to advance our IT systems across departments so we may continue to deliver the greatest value to our guests.”

Hawaiian opened a temporary IT office in Arizona early last year before moving to the current location two months ago. It plans to nearly double the staff at the center by continuing to partner with Arizona State University and other local educational institutions to offer IT internships and recruit positions ranging from software engineers and architects to database managers and business analysts.

“This new Hawaiian Airlines technology center is another significant addition to Arizona’s tech sector, which is growing at a rate 40 percent faster than the rest of the country,” Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey said in a statement.