As it generated strong commercial orders and record freighter sales, the December quarter saw $716 million in operating cash flow.

Company closed out the year on a $377 billion order backlog, which was higher than $10 billion for the three months to December due to clients returning from pandemics.

Problems with its wide-body 787 Dreamliner planes continued to weigh on the company’s profitability. Boeing secured $3.5 billion of pre-tax, non-cash charges as it intensified efforts to bring the planes back into service.

Reuters reports that the US regulators are reviewing production issues and the U.S. is expected to freeze 787 delivery until April. Meanwhile, Europe’s regulatory authorities continue pushing back against designs for larger 777X aircraft.

On the other catalog of planes – 737 MAX — that too had its share of defect issues plaguing it, Boeing said it is currently producing at a rate of 26 per month and is progressing towards 31 per month in early 2022.

Boeing said since the FAA’s approval in November 2020, it has returned the planes to service in nearly all global markets barring China where the country’s regulator issued an airworthiness directive last month, outlining changes required for their airlines to prepare their fleet for service.

Boeing’s fourth-quarter revenue fell 3% and came in short of $15 billion, let down by 14% erosion in defense, space and security revenue.

The lower commercial volumes and charges have led to a nearly halving of adjusted profit per share at $7.69