The landing gear on a Varig airlines jet broke as it touched down in Brazil's capital, but the plane landed safely, the airline said.
None of the 108 passengers was injured, Brazil's flagship airline, which is in the midst of bankruptcy proceedings, said in a statement. But Friday's incident prompted officials to close the Brasilia airport for nearly two hours, and other flights were diverted to another city.
The MD-11 jet was headed from Rio de Janeiro to the Amazon jungle city of Manaus, with a stopover in Brasilia, 850 kilometers (530 miles) north of Sao Paulo.
Varig, or Viacao Aerea Rio-Grandense SA, said it was examining the defective part, which was scheduled for maintenance in 2009.
The airline, teetering financially for years, is faced with huge questions about whether it will survive or be broken up in liquidation. It owes about US$3.5 billion (euro2.75 billion) and its domestic market share has plunged in Latin America's largest country.
Varig has recently been canceling up to about 20 flights daily as the bankruptcy proceedings drag on, though it has said the cancelations are due to bad weather and regular plane maintenance.
On Friday, the airline canceled 30 flights, according to Brazil's official Agencia Brasil news agency. All passengers were being placed on flights by other airlines, but customers said the disruptions were making travel difficult.
Argentine passenger Henrique Gutierrez was repeatedly told before heading to Sao Paulo's international airport that his flight to Buenos Aires would leave as scheduled. When he arrived, he found out it had been canceled.
"They told us everything was fine," Gutierrez told Brazil's Agencia Estado news agency. "They lied."
An investment group led by Varig workers last week bid US$449 million (euro353 million) to take over the domestic and international operations of the 79-year-old airline.
A bankruptcy court judge on Wednesday postponed a final decision on Varig's future to study the possibility of new investors joining the workers' group, reportedly including Portugal's state-owned TAP Portugal SA airline.
Varig flies daily to 36 Brazilian cities and to 21 foreign destinations.
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