Aeroflot's long-standing contract with English football club Manchester United is projected to have increased the airline's annual foreign passenger traffic by at least 6 percent, the Russian carrier's CEO, Vitaly Saveliev, said Monday.

"I want to note that Manchester United gives us a significant increase of [foreign] passenger traffic, we estimate it at more than 6 percent," Saveliev told the annual meeting of Aeroflot shareholders.

Aeroflot became the official carrier of Manchester United in 2013, and has been transporting the team ever since.

In January-May 2017, Aeroflot Group increased passenger transportation by 15.9 percent year-on-year to 18.3 million people, according to the air company's data. During the same period, the group's international passenger flow surged 25.3 percent to 8.1 million people.