PARIS - VIETNAM Airlines on Monday signed a preliminary agreement to buy 10 Airbus A350 and 20 A320 aircraft at a catalogue price of nearly 2.7 billion euros (S$5.6 billion), a correspondent said.

The agreement was reached during a visit here of Vietnamese Prime Minister Ngyuen Tan Dung.

The airline selected the A350-900XWB version of the future long-haul aircraft. The company already operates several planes in the shorthaul, single-aisled A320 family. -- AFP