Brian J. West
Executive Vice President & Chief Financial Officer at Boeing
Thanks, Dave, and good morning, everyone. Let's start off with the total company financial performance for the quarter. Revenue was $22 billion, that's up 10% year-over-year. Growth was driven by higher commercial volume and favorable mix. The core loss per share was $0.47, better than last year primarily on improved commercial volume, better mix, and lower abnormal costs that were offset by lower defense margins and higher period expenses including R&D which we expected. Free cash flow was $3 billion in the quarter, in line with prior year and up sequentially from the third quarter primarily due to improved commercial deliveries and strong order activity, which drove favorable advance payment timing, some of which was anticipated in the first quarter 2024.
Turning to the next page, I'll cover Boeing Commercial Airplanes. BCA booked 611 net orders in the quarter with 411 737s including an order with Akasa, 98 777Xs largely an Emirates order, and 83 787s. We have over 5,600 airplanes in backlog valued at $441 billion. BCA delivered 157 airplanes in the quarter and revenue was $10.5 billion. That's up 13% driven by higher widebody deliveries and favorable mix. Operating margin was just positive at 0.4% driven by returning to normal 737 delivery levels in the quarter, improved mix, as well as lower abnormal costs associated with getting to five per month on the 787 and resuming production on the 777X. Now I'll give more color on the key programs. On the 737, we delivered 110 airplanes in the quarter and 45 in December. The program also began FAA certification flight testing on the 737-10 in December.
For the year, we delivered 396 airplanes on the upper end of the revised guidance range we provided in October. For the FAA announcement, we'll maintain production at 38 per month and work transparently with the FAA to complete all requirements for future increases. At the same time, we'll continue to prioritize the master schedule to avoid disruption in our supply chain. On the 737-9, we're actively supporting our customers return to service activities and as of today, the majority are back flying. In our factory, we have 10 -9s in production, all of which will undergo the FAA approved inspection process prior to delivery. Spirit has also adopted this inspection routine in its factory. The quarter ended with about 200 MAX airplanes in inventory. It's important to think about this inventory in three buckets.
First, there are 140 737-8s built prior to 2023. The vast majority are for customers in China and India. We still expect to deliver most of these airplanes by year-end as we work towards shutting down the shadow factory. In the second bucket, there around 25 airplanes produced in 2023 that are still in WIP given the disruptions in the second half of last year and we expect these to deliver in 2024. And lastly, there are approximately 35 -7s and -10s that we will deliver once those airplanes are certified. The timing of which will be determined by the FAA. Moving on to the 787. We delivered 23 airplanes in the quarter, including 11 in December. For the year, we delivered 73 airplanes within the guidance range we originally outlined for 2023. The program successfully transitioned production to five per month in the quarter and still plan to steadily work our way to 10 per month in the '25-'26 time-frame.
We ended the quarter with approximately 60 airplanes in inventory, about 50 of which require rework which continues to progress steadily. We still expect to deliver most of these airplanes by year-end as we finish the rework and shut down the shadow factory. We booked $77 million of abnormal costs in the quarter and have approximately $300 million left to go that will wind down by year-end in line with our expectations. On the 777X, we resumed production in the quarter and continued to progress along the program timeline, which remains unchanged. During the quarter, the Emirates order for 90 777Xs brought the program backlog to more than 400 airplanes and also extended the accounting quantity. We continue to follow the lead of the FAA as we progress through the certification process, including working to obtain approval from the FAA to begin certification flight testing.
We booked $71 million of abnormal costs in the quarter, which is now fully behind us after resuming production in line with our expectations. Moving to the next page, Boeing Defense & Space. BDS booked $8 billion in orders during the quarter, including the Lot 10 award from the US Air Force for 15 KC-46A tankers. The backlog is now at $59 billion. Revenue was $6.7 billion, up 9% on the tanker award and improved volume and BDS delivered 52 aircraft and two satellites in the quarter. Operating margin was minus 1.5% in the quarter, a sequential improvement from 3Q, but still we have more work to do. 4Q results were impacted by cost true-ups on three fixed price development programs totaling $139 million as well as unfavorable performance and mix in other programs. Our game plan to get BDS back to high single-digit margins by the '25-'26 time frame remains unchanged.
Our core business remained solid representing 60% of our revenue and performing in the mid to high single-digit margin range. The demand for these products is very strong and we need to execute, compete, and grow these offerings. On the 25% of the portfolio primarily comprised of fighter and satellite programs, operational performance stabilized as we exit the year and as a result, the fourth quarter saw improved margin trends although still negative. We still expect to return to the strong historical performance levels as we roll in the new contracts with tighter underwriting disciplines as we move into the '25-'26 time frame. Lastly, we have our fixed price to loan programs that represent the remaining 15% of revenue. Despite the relatively modest cost true-ups in the quarter, we continue to focus on maturing these programs and retiring risks quarter-in and quarter-out and we made some good progress in the fourth quarter.
In addition to capturing the tanker award from the US Air Force, the program delivered nine aircraft in the fourth quarter continuing to build positive momentum in spite of the supply related disruptions to the factory that we faced earlier last year. And on the T-7A, the first Red Hawk arrived at Edwards Air Force Base in November formally starting the Air Force development flight test campaign for the aircraft. Overall, the defense portfolio is poised to improve with strong demand across the customer base, the products are performing in the field, and we're confident that our efforts to drive execution and stability will return this business to performance levels that our investors recognize. Moving on to the next page, Boeing Global Services. BGS had another strong quarter. They received $6 billion in orders and the backlog is now at $20 billion. Revenue was $4.8 billion, up 6% primarily unfavorable commercial volume and mix.
Operating margins were a very strong 17.4%, an expansion of 350 basis points versus last year as both our commercial and government businesses were delivering double-digit margins. In the quarter, BGS opened a parts distribution center in India and received a follow-on contract to provide sustainment for the C17. Turning now to the next page, I'll cover cash and debt. On cash and marketable securities, we ended the quarter at $16 billion. On debt, the balance remained flat at $52.3 billion and over the next few days we'll pay down $4 billion of the $5 billion of maturities coming due this year from our available cash-on-hand. We continue to maintain access to $10 billion of revolving credit facilities, all of which remain undrawn. Our liquidity position remained strong. Our investment-grade credit rating continues to be a priority and we're developing -- deploying capital in line with the priorities we shared previously, invest in the business and pay down debt.
Turning to the next page, I'll cover our full-year financials. Full-year revenue was $77.8 billion, up 17% year-over-year. Growth was driven by improved commercial volume primarily on higher 787 deliveries. The core loss per share was $5.81, better than prior year primarily on improved commercial volume and mix as well as lower fixed price development charges in defense. Free cash flow was $4.4 billion for the year, up versus prior year primarily on higher 787 deliveries and favorable receipt timing and was partially offset by higher expenditures as we increase production rates and invest in the business. While we're postponing issuing 2024 guidance today given our current focus, we're committed to sharing timely and transparent updates moving forward.
I would like to provide some additional context on our path forward. We always knew 2024 was going to be an important year in our recovery. Based on what we know today; we expect another steady year of free cash flow driven by the 737 production at 38 per month, ongoing execution of the 787 toward our long-term objectives, continued liquidation of our 737 and 787 inventory, and continued focus to wind down both shadow factories. Our defense business will continue to improve as we mature fixed price programs and transition recently challenged programs with better underwriting disciplines that we've already started to see and BGS will continue to generate strong free cash flow. Longer term we're focused on quality and stability, which will ultimately drive free cash flow.
Nothing has changed on the demand front and the backlog is strong and growing. Remember, our '25-'26 guidance was based on achieving stability and we have to earn that by applying resources to fix our issues and demonstrate predictability one airplane at a time side-by-side with our regulator. This team is up to the challenge and we'll point any and all our resources to get back to deliveries that satisfy our customers and underwrite the long-term demand profile. We're still confident in the goals we laid out for '25, '26 although it may take longer in that window than originally anticipated and we won't rush the system.
With that, I'll turn it back to Dave for closing comments.
