LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Southwest Airlines could cancel 300 flights on Sunday as it continues to inspect 79 aircraft from its Boeing 737 fleet, after one of its planes with a gaping hole in the fuselage made an emergency landing, a company spokeswoman said.

This comes after the airline said it expects to cancel 300 flights on Saturday, a day after the emergency landing. The airline is planning for possible disruptions on Sunday due to the inspections, said Southwest spokeswoman Brandy King.

"We don't at this time know what the impact will be, but it's possible that it could be in the 300-flight range again tomorrow," King told Reuters.

Passengers aboard Southwest Flight 812 from Phoenix to Sacramento on Friday heard a loud noise and the hole appeared suddenly at about mid cabin. As a result, the pilot landed at a military base in Yuma, Arizona.

The emergency aboard the Boeing 737-300 prompted the airline to examine other similar aircraft within its fleet, with a total of 79 inspections planned at five locations, Southwest said in a statement.

The inspections will occur over the next several days, Southwest said. Southwest normally has about 3,400 flights on Saturday, King said, so the cancellations accounted for nearly 9 percent of that total.

"We did our best to accommodate those passengers on other Southwest flights," King said.

A total of 931 Boeing 737-300s are operated by all airlines worldwide, with 288 of them in the United States, the Federal Aviation Administration said.

The Southwest flight that was forced to make an emergency landing had 118 passengers and five crew members on board.

Southwest and Boeing engineers will inspect the grounded aircraft, and the airline is working with federal authorities to determine the cause of the incident, Southwest said.

The pilot made a rapid descent from about 34,400 feet to 11,000 feet, in accordance with standard practice, the FAA said. The purpose was to reach an altitude where supplemental oxygen is no longer required.

One flight attendant and at least one passenger were treated at the scene for minor injuries, Southwest said.

The Boeing 737 landed at 4:07 p.m. local time after declaring an emergency, said Ian Gregor, an FAA spokesman.

After the passengers deplaned at the Yuma Marine Corps Air Station, the airline arranged for another aircraft to take them to Sacramento, the company said.

Passengers described the harrowing scene to the CBS television affiliate in Sacramento, detailing the damage to the plane.

"They had just taken drink orders when I heard a huge sound and oxygen masks came down and we started making a rapid descent. They said we'd be making an emergency landing," a woman identified as Cindy told the station.

"There was a hole in the fuselage about three feet long. You could see the insulation and the wiring. You could see a tear the length of one of the ceiling panels."

(Additional reporting by David Schwartz in Phoenix and Lauren Keiper in Boston; Editing by Greg McCune)

BILOXI, Miss (Reuters) – The wife of Mississippi Governor Haley Barbour, a possible contender for the 2012 Republican presidential nomination, said in an interview that a bid for the presidency by her husband "horrifies me."

Speaking to the ABC television affiliate in Biloxi, Mississippi, Marsha Barbour admitted that the task of a presidential run would be "overwhelming" and is something she may not be quite ready for.

"It's been a lot to be first lady of the state of Mississippi and this would be 50 times bigger," she said in the interview aired on Friday by WLOX. "It's a huge sacrifice for a family to make."

Marsha Barbour said that she is wary of a 10-year commitment that comes with a presidential run -- a long campaign and two terms in office -- during "the last part of our productive lives." Haley Barbour is 63.

She said that she was doing plenty of praying on the matter and would ultimately support her husband despite her hesitation.

Marsha and Haley were high school sweethearts and married in 1971. As First Lady of the state, she dedicated herself to relief efforts along the Mississippi Gulf Coast after the 2005 Hurricane Katrina.

She spent seventy of the first ninety days after the storm on the Coast delivering emergency supplies, helping coordinate FEMA activities with those of the state and assisting people in returning to their homes. She served as Haley's eyes and ears and became the face of the state's disaster assistance, which was widely viewed as more organized and effective than neighboring Louisiana.

The Barbours have two adult sons, Sterling and Reeves, and four grandchildren.

Barbour has said he will announce if he is in or out of the race for president by the end of April.

(Reporting by Leigh Coleman; Editing by Greg McCune)

NEW YORK (Reuters) – London has Paddington Bear but New York now has a giant yellow teddy bear, a great sculptural masterpiece that could sell for more than $9 million at auction in May, Christie's said on Saturday.

A 23-foot (7-meter) high, bronze teddy bear slumped under a black bedside lamp will be on display for five months in midtown Manhattan from next week and be a highlight of the Post-War & Contemporary sale on May 11.

The 35,000 pound (15.8 metric tons) sculpture, Untitled (Lamp/Bear), is the work of New York-based Swiss artist Urs Fischer. Brett Gorvy, Christie's deputy chairman for Post-War and Contemporary Art, described Fischer as the Jeff Koons of his generation.

"We have seen contemporary sculpture works by Jeff Koons selling at $25 million and Urs Fischer is the leading pretender to the throne," he said. "He is considered the most important, the most provocative of contemporary artists today."

Gorvy said the U.S. collector selling the sculpture, whom he declined to name, had already turned down a private offer of $9 million.

"The anticipation is that it will make more than that," he said. "There's a very good chance it's going to go to a museum or a private institution."

The teddy bear, which has button eyes, is currently being assembled in the plaza of the architecturally acclaimed Seagram Building skyscraper on Park Avenue. Gorvy said getting the city permits to install the sculpture was a project in itself.

An added feature of the sculpture, according to the auction house, is that the table lamp above the bear's head works, so the bear can be lit up at night.

"A true landmark sculpture of this nature appeals to private collectors and museums around the world, but could be acquired by a city as a means of attracting cultural tourism," said Gorvy.

Christie's said the sculpture had been inspired by Fischer's own much-loved teddy bear. Fischer sewed together a one-foot tall teddy bear and scanned it with a 3-D laser to generate drawings to create the sculpture.

It is one of three created in 2005/06. The other two teddy bears are privately owned. U.S. collector Adam Lindemann has installed his sculpture on a bluff at his property on Long Island in New York.

(Reporting by Michelle Nichols; editing by Patricia Reaney)