Boeing said on Wednesday that it plans to return about 80 percent of its free cash flow to shareholders through dividends and share buy-backs.

Speaking at an investor conference, Boeing Chief Financial Officer Greg Smith said the cash deployment move, a step up from current levels of cash return, won't reduce its cash balance of about $11 billion.

The company forecasts generating more than $8 billion in operating cash flow this year. In December, the company raised its dividend 10 percent to 48.5 cents per share quarterly and said it would spend $1.5 billion to $2 billion in 2013 on share buy-backs.